Think About Me
by ilovenaley
Summary: NH AU – Nathan and Haley have been meeting for the past two months, believing that they are strangers to each other, but not realising that their worlds are more tangled than they might think...
1. Chapter 1

**AN – Okay guys, I know I'm still only 14 chapters into Kiss The Rain (you can check that story out on my profile page) and I still have so much to tell in that story, but this idea came to me and I couldn't help myself! I hope you all like it, I have been amazed at how well you guys have received Kiss the Rain and your reviews have really inspired me, and the result of that is this new story.**

**Of course it's Nathan and Haley and completely AU again... and just like Kiss The Rain, there will be a lot of drama/smut to come, hence the M rating.**

**So all that remains for me to say is that I hope you like it... I'm a little nervous about posting this given how well Kiss the Rain has done, but we'll see what you guys think... x**

**Think About Me**

**Chapter 1**

Haley closed her eyes as she stood patiently at the bottom of the Subway stairs. She was being pushed and shoved from one way to another, these annoying people were so inconsiderate. They all failed to realise that they were all trying to do the same thing, just get out onto the street, but yet each one that pushed past her was more thoughtless than the previous person that had sent her tumbling into someone else. She sighed at how normal it all felt though.

She dragged herself slowly up the stairs, the crowd were moving at a torturous pace, she didn't understand these people jams, why everyone couldn't move at a continuous pace was beyond her, and it happened every single morning. She finally reached the top, where she found that it was pouring with rain, which was just another crappy thing to add to the list of why today was a disaster, given that without an umbrella she was going to have to turn up to the office completely soaked. She walked in the direction away from her office building, down Wall Street towards Starbucks. She was late, but she was always late, and she was going to make herself even later, but damn did she need that coffee.

She opened the door to the coffee shop and looked around, trying to spot whether he was there. She did this every single morning, ever since she had first started working in Manhattan two months ago, it was her ritual. She would have the shittiest morning known to man, mainly because of her hour and a half long commute, walk into Starbucks, order her latte, sit down next to him and all her troubles seemed to melt away.

She didn't know why she had started talking to him in the first place if she was honest with herself, she was usually far too shy to start conversing with a complete stranger, but there was something about him, something about their conversation, it was so easy and free flowing. They talked about anything and everything, sharing problems, telling tales about their families, she didn't know the basic things about him, she only knew his name, she didn't know where he worked or where he lived but she liked that, he was like her mystery man; she could make him be anything she wanted him to be in her head.

She ordered her latte and walked over to where his head was buried in a paper, much like how she found him every morning.

Nathan sat in his usual spot, just like he had been for the last half an hour. He looked down at his watch, checking the time; she was usually here by now. He didn't think anything of it though and continued reading, sure that she was just running late, again. He felt the chilly breeze on his ankles as the door opened but didn't glance up. If it was her, she would come over, she always did. He flipped over the page of his newspaper and smelt that horrific smell of the girly coffee she liked and smiled. She had arrived.

"You're late this morning." He said to her without even looking over to see that it was in fact her who had sat down next to him. It was the best part of his day, being able to chat to her. He liked that they would meet in the morning too, it made him excited to get to Wall Street, wondering what she would be wearing, wondering in which direction their seemingly pointless conversation would flow to that day, wondering if her hair would be up or down...

Haley laughed as she sat down next to him. "Nathan, how did you know that was me?"

"I can smell that disgusting coffee you drink from a mile off." He smirked at her as he put down his paper and turned to face her. She looked flustered and her black trench coat was covered with rain, her hair was soaked too but she still looked absolutely stunning.

His eyes were sparkling as he turned to face her and Haley couldn't help but play along with his teasing. "There is nothing wrong with the coffee I drink, thank you very much, and quite how you can drink four espresso shots in one sitting is beyond me."

He laughed. "What can I say, I need the caffeine, and by the way, this," he started as he gulped down the rest of his coffee, "is my fifth, and I wouldn't be able to last the sixteen hours I need to if I didn't have it."

Haley just shook her head at him. If she had five espresso shots in the morning she would be bouncing off the walls for the rest of the week. She took note of what secret he had revealed about himself in that sentence, he must have a very demanding job if he was working sixteen hour days. Although they never talked about anything personal, like what they actually did for a living or where they lived, as a whole conversation, little snippets of their lives often crept into their chats, and Haley found herself storing up all the little pieces of his life that he had divulged to her, trying to fit all the pieces together.

"So did you have a good weekend Haley?" He asked her, waiting to hear about her escapades.

Now that really was the million dollar question. _Had she had a good weekend?_ She mused. "It was average I guess."

"How comes it was only average?" He prodded. He loved hearing about her life. It was so different to his, his was chaotic and everything seemed rushed, whereas she seemed to have a lot of time on her hands, which was something he craved. He didn't even know her last name, what she did for a living, where she was from, but her life, or maybe it was just her, completely enthralled and captivated him.

"It wasn't the best weekend I've ever had in my life, nor the worst." She shrugged. "How about you, how was your weekend?" She asked as she took a gulp of her drink. His life was far more interesting than hers.

"Great, actually, I went to the Knicks game on Saturday with my brother." He started to ramble on about how great the game was.

_Okay so he has a brother. _Haley thought to herself, adding that new piece of information to her stash, waiting for him to talk about something other than sport, which was so not her forte.

"And then yesterday I flew down to Tree Hill in North Carolina to visit my parents, whom I hadn't seen in about two months so my Mom was freaking out. I decided it was best for me to go and get that trip over and done with..."

_His parents live in North Carolina, _was also added to her collection of 'Nathan Information'.

"And then I flew back into New York last night and did some work for a few hours before finally getting to bed at about one in the morning." He finished.

_He has to work on the weekend, okay, forget very demanding, his job must be extremely demanding if he's working sixteen hour days during the week and has to spend time working at the weekend too. _She didn't know how these city tycoons lived like that. "Sounds like an action packed weekend!"

Nathan smiled. "So why was yours only average? You know you should always do something fun on the weekend, you should always make time to enjoy yourself."

"I did some fun things." Haley defended herself. She wasn't a total bore!

"Like what?" He questioned, eager to know what she had been up to.

"I... did some shopping." Haley revealed.

"What did you buy?" Nathan asked.

Haley looked down at the ground. "Food."

Nathan roared with laughter. "So you are telling me that the most exciting thing that happened to you this weekend was food shopping?!"

Haley gasped at his teasing. "I wasn't finished telling you about my weekend yet, if you would shut your mouth for a second and let me finish!" Haley crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.

Nathan held up his arms. "Okay, I'm sorry, I'm listening; tell me, what else did you get up to this weekend?"

"I went out with my boyfriend on Saturday night." Haley continued.

"Ah the boyfriend! How's that going?" He hated that she had a boyfriend. He hated that she was unhappy and yet still had a boyfriend. He was a lucky bastard as far as Nathan was concerned yet he didn't seem to realise it, not from what he had heard from Haley anyway. From what she had revealed, he treated her like shit, she totally deserved someone better than that, Haley deserved someone who was going to respect her, someone who was going to treat her right, someone like him.

"Better now, I think. He's getting used to the idea of me working in New York with him and even though we both work for the same company, I still never see him when I'm here. We're still living separately, with him in Manhattan and me an hour and a half away but we're getting on a bit better than we were before."

"How can you not see him when you work at the same company?" Nathan asked, confused.

"Same company, different buildings." Haley explained. "He wasn't too happy when he found out I had got a job at the same place he worked at, as you very well know, but I think it's good that our working lives are still separate from each others, it makes it a bit easier, we don't feel like we are constantly on each other's toes."

"I still don't understand why you don't just move in with him, it makes no sense you living so far out when he has a place here." Nathan shook his head. How someone could be going out with someone as beautiful as Haley and not want to share a home with her, he didn't know, if it was him, he would have asked her to move in the moment they started dating, just so he could be near her all the time.

"Well I don't think we're ready for that yet." Haley said quietly, wishing she hadn't mentioned Tom now that she and Nathan were starting this conversation again, it always ended badly.

"How long have you been with him Haley?" Nathan questioned, trying to see if he could understand what this dude's problem was.

"Two years." Haley sighed.

"Two years! Come on, my brother had gotten engaged and married in two years, so why won't you two live together?" He had got to be the biggest asshole on the planet! Either that or he must be blind, if he couldn't see what was right in front of him, which as far as Nathan was concerned, was the most perfect girl he'd ever met.

Haley hated this subject. She had been wondering about it too, wondering why it was so hard for Tom to make that commitment to her, but every time she brought it up, he would change the subject, or just say that he was happy with the way things were going with them and she hadn't wanted to push the subject any further, he was already so stressed out at work, what he needed was a supportive girlfriend, not one that moaned constantly. So she had dropped the subject and not brought it up again. She sighed, she didn't want another lecture from Nathan about it; she'd had so many in the past and so she swiftly changed the subject back to him. "Well, what about you?"

"What about me?" Nathan asked nonchalantly.

"Where is your girlfriend?!" Haley enquired, knowing how much he hated this subject matter, but if he was going to bring up the whole 'why don't you live with your boyfriend?' scenario, then she was going to bring this up.

"I don't have a girlfriend." Nathan stated.

"Exactly. Why not?" Haley asked.

"No time." Nathan explained.

"That, Nathan, is a poor excuse. How can you not have time for a girlfriend?" Haley shook her head at him.

"I work too hard, and besides, I'm not looking to play the field, I've been there and done that more times than you would care to know." That was definitely no lie. While he was at college he was the serial dater, who never had a girlfriend. That behaviour had continued when he had first moved to New York, but once he hit twenty five, something hit him, and he knew he couldn't continue living this way, so he had calmed down and concentrated on his business, and hadn't found the right girl for him in those two years he had been kind of, but not, looking.

Haley definitely didn't doubt that. There was no denying that Nathan was extremely attractive. He was always so well dressed, his suits fitted him to perfection and she hadn't failed to notice his body was, well nicely toned. But in the two months she had known him, he hadn't even been on a date. "But that's the past, what about now?"

"Now, I am waiting for the right person to come along." Nathan answered honestly.

"Well, you aren't going to find her while you sit in a coffee shop with your head buried in a paper. You have to actually date Nathan!"

Nathan thought about what she had said to him. What he really wanted to do was go on a date with her, she was the one he wanted, but she was taken. She was in a relationship where she wasn't happy, where she wasn't appreciated. And he hated that because he knew that he would appreciate her, treat her right, he would do whatever it took to make her happy. He could feel his temper brewing inside of him, for no reason other than the fact that she was telling him to date, when he couldn't date the one person he wanted to. "Well you aren't going to move forward in your relationship if you won't tell your boyfriend what you want from him!" Nathan bit back. He'd had his Mom on his case all day yesterday about finding the right girl for him, about how he was getting old and needed to settle down and he'd heard enough, without Haley being on his case too. Christ, he was only twenty seven! Who said you needed to be married and have kids by the time you were thirty?!

"And what is it that I want from him?" Haley goaded. He was moving into dangerous territory. Why she had brought up the subject of Tom she didn't know, it always caused them to bicker.

"I don't know, but it's clear you aren't happy. Why else would you have sat here for two months complaining about it?"

Haley didn't say anything. She just played with her coffee cup.

"Come on Haley, tell me you're happy and I'll drop the subject?" Nathan dared her.

Haley sat back in her chair and gulped down the rest of her coffee, Nathan's words leaving a very sour taste in her mouth. She had to get to work; she didn't have time to discuss this with him. She placed her now empty cup on the table in front of her and stood up to leave.

Nathan saw that Haley was getting up to leave and he knew that he had overstepped the mark with his last comment. "Haley, I'm sorry, it's just the whole girlfriend issue has been rammed down my throat all weekend. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"No, you know what, you're right, I do need to talk to my boyfriend. But don't think that you know what I want from my relationship. That is my issue and my problem; you don't know me or us or how we are together."

"I wasn't implying that I did Haley, it's just I can tell..."

"You have no right to pass judgement Nathan okay."

"Okay." Nathan sighed and watched as Haley put her coat back on. He knew when to shut up. He picked up his paper and walked out with her, just like they did every morning. Once they were back out on Wall Street Nathan spoke. "I didn't mean to upset you Haley." He said softly.

"I know you didn't." Haley offered him a small smile as her way of showing him that it was over and done with, that she was past it.

"Good. Well have a nice day and I'll see you tomorrow?" Nathan asked hopefully.

"Yeah, same to you and I'll see you tomorrow."

Haley turned and walked towards her office building, glancing behind as she watched Nathan walk briskly in the opposite direction. She knew he was right, she did need to talk to Tom, she just didn't want to hear that something was wrong in their relationship from anybody, even though it was glaringly obvious. She sighed as she walked into the office, pushing all personal thoughts out of her mind as she took the lift up to the seventeenth floor, ready to excuse herself for being late, once again.

~*~

Lucas Scott sat in his office, sighing at the empty desk just outside his door. Haley was late, but what was new? He shook his head and continued typing away on his computer; doing some research for the conference call he had in ten minutes when he heard Haley come running from the elevator. He laughed as she almost tripped over her chair and when she looked around to check that no one saw, she made eye contact with him.

_Great, so not only am I late but now my boss is laughing at me. _Haley thought to herself. She made her way into Lucas' office. "Luke, I am so sorry I'm late."

Lucas shook his head at his secretary, smiling at her. "Close the door and sit down for a second Haley."

Haley did as she was told and placed herself in the spare seat in front of Lucas' desk, trying to smooth down her damp hair. She really needed to invest in an umbrella.

"Haley, you know I think you are doing an amazing job right?" Lucas started.

_Oh no! _Haley thought, this doesn't sound good.

"But you can't keep being this late every day!"

"I know, I'm so sorry, it's just it takes me so long to get here, but I always work later so I make sure I make up my hours..." Haley said in a worried tone, wondering where this conversation was headed.

"I know you do Haley and don't worry I'm not about to sack you or anything, I'm more concerned about you, travelling for three hours a day to get to and from work must be taking its toll on you."

Haley smiled at his concern; he really was a great boss. "I guess so but it's my choice to do it."

"Why haven't you managed to find a place to live that's closer to work?" Lucas asked.

"Everywhere is so expensive and the places that I could afford aren't in that safe an area..."

"What about your boyfriend? He lives in Manhattan right?"

Haley rolled her eyes. She really didn't want to be talking about this twice in one day. "We're not quite ready for the whole living together thing."

Lucas sighed. He really was concerned about Haley. She was amazing at her job and he didn't want to lose her because she was getting tired from the commute. He'd had this idea a week ago but hadn't thought of the right way to approach it with her. He took a deep breath and continued. "I'll tell you what, my friend has an apartment that he hardly uses in Manhattan, which I'm sure he'd be more than willing to let you rent out."

Haley's head snapped up. "What?" She was sure she was hearing things? He knew of an apartment in Manhattan that she could rent?

"It's a really nice place, has three bedrooms, rooftop terrace, it's a duplex penthouse. But like I said, he rarely uses it, and even if he does use it, it would only be for a short amount of time."

"Why doesn't he use it?" Haley asked. Surely if he didn't use it the place would be rented out anyway.

"He has a bigger place just outside the city which he prefers to live in."

"But I wouldn't be able to afford to pay him market rate." Haley stated the obvious, there was no way on her salary she would be able to rent a duplex penthouse, complete with rooftop terrace.

"I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem, it's not like he needs the money you know, and all it's doing at the moment is sitting there empty."

Haley shook her head in amazement, this really sounded like it was too good to be true. "Well that sounds great Lucas."

"Let me call him later on today and see what he thinks of the whole idea and I'll let you know."

"Thanks Luke, I really appreciate it." Haley said gratefully. She was stunned; it seemed her hour and a half commute was hopefully going to be drastically reduced.

"No problem. Now get back to work." He said with a smile on his face as he motioned for her to get out of his office.

Haley walked out of his office and sat down at her desk, praying that his friend would say it was okay for her to rent his place, when the phone started to ring. "Good morning, Scott Investment Management, Haley speaking."

"Haley, its Tom."

"Hi Tom." Haley said down the phone to him.

"Good journey to work?"

"Same as always, I was late... again. You know that the only day I managed to get to work on time was the very first day; every other day since I started I have been late."

"Well what do you want me to do about it?" Tom asked, wondering quite how this was his problem.

Haley sighed; there was no point in bringing this up over the phone with him.

"Haley, I know you want us to live together but I'm just not ready for that yet." Tom chose his words carefully.

"Well when are you going to be Tom? I mean we have been seeing each other for two years now! This isn't some high school romance, we're adults."

"I know that..."

"So then why won't you offer me any sort of commitment?" Haley huffed down the phone at him. Her conversation with Nathan earlier was playing on her mind and she knew things needed to be said.

Tom was silent for about five minutes before he spoke. "Haley, I can't talk about this with you now but I'll pick you up after work and we can grab some food and chat about this okay?"

"Fine." Haley said as she slammed the phone down.

~*~

Nathan walked into his office and sat down at his desk, ready for another relentless day. He opened his calendar and saw that it was crazy, just like always and sighed to himself. He grabbed his pad of paper and started writing down some notes on his thoughts for the potential investment he would be discussing with his Board of Directors in half an hour, when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in." Nathan called out as he shut his pad of paper.

"Hi Nathan."

"Good morning Tom, have a seat." Nathan gestured at one of the seats that sat facing him. Tom was one of his three divisional heads, he worked incredibly hard and Nathan respected him a lot for it. He was a good guy too, always willing to go that extra mile and was someone Nathan would almost consider a friend.

"Thanks Nathan." Tom said as he sat down.

"So what can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering if there was any way someone could cover the Smith meeting I have this evening?"

Nathan threw his head back; he didn't need these sort of complications, not right at the last minute. "It's a bit late to be asking Tom."

"I know, and you know I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't something important but I need to take my girlfriend out to dinner tonight."

"You want to switch your meeting so you can go for dinner with your girlfriend?" Nathan asked, unimpressed.

"I'm going to ask her to marry me tonight!" Tom blurted out.

Nathan's eyes grew wide. "That's fantastic Tom! Congratulations!"

"Well we don't know if she's going to say yes yet but thanks!"

"Wow, that's huge!" Nathan said as he shook his head. It seemed everyone was moving on with their lives, with someone else in their life but him.

"So is it okay to swap?" Tom asked.

"Of course it is!" Nathan said as Tom got up to leave his office.

"Thanks Nathan."

"Let me know how it goes, won't you?!"

"Of course." Tom said as he shut the door to Nathan's office.

Just as Tom had shut the door to his office, his phone started to ring. "Scott Investment Management, Nathan speaking."

"Nate."

"Lucas, how are you?"

"Fine thanks, you?"

"Yeah I'm good, how's everything going down in real estate. No disasters to report I hope." Nathan asked, not sure if he could take it if there were anything wrong. Today was officially a disaster.

"Not at all, in fact, this is a personal call."

"Okay shoot." Nathan said, relieved.

"Well, you know I hired that new secretary a couple of months ago...." Lucas started.

"Yes... don't tell me, you've had an affair with her!" Nathan joked, knowing there was no way in hell Lucas would ever cheat on Brooke, for she would castrate him if he did!

"Ha ha, very funny." Lucas rolled his eyes at his brother's antics.

"Well I've heard from a couple of people in your building that she's hot."

"I thought you were all set of finding 'the one'?"

"I am, but if she's hot, she's hot."

"You are unbelievable. Anyway, back to the conversation... You know that she lives like hours away from work right?"

"No I didn't..."

"Well she does and it's really affecting her work."

"So sack her." Nathan said simply. "Or tell her to move."

"She can't afford anywhere decent in Manhattan, and I'm not going to fire her, she's amazing at her job."

"Okay... so what has this got to do with me?"

"Well." Lucas cleared his throat. "You know your apartment..."

"Lucas..." Nathan warned, not liking where this conversation was headed.

"Nathan, just hear me out okay?"

"Fine."

"I was thinking that maybe she could use it, you know, to live in."

"Lucas, I really think that's a bad idea. I mean, I'm basically her boss, how weird would that be, the fact that she would be living with her boss? People would start talking, get the wrong idea..."

"You never use it, like ever."

"That's not true."

"When did you last use it?"

"Last week."

"For what, one night?"

"Yes for one night, but the fact still remains, I used it."

"Nathan please, she is so good at her job and I know that she's going to start looking elsewhere if this routine continues and I can't afford to lose her, not after the psycho I had before her.

Nathan sighed heavily. This was just a crazy idea but if Lucas had found someone who was good at her job... well didn't he deserve to have a good secretary? Especially after the last one who tried to seduce him.

"Nathan please." Lucas pleaded with him.

Nathan shook his head, not quite believing that he was going to agree to this. "Okay but you have to tell her that I may need to use it sometimes."

"Thanks Nate. That's fine. It's plenty big enough for the both of you anyway."

Nathan grumbled incoherently down the phone and hung up. His brother was mentally unstable, it was official.

~*~

Haley had just finished shutting her computer down. It was seven o'clock in the evening and she was due to meet Tom downstairs. "Luke, I'm headed off now, I'll see you tomorrow." She called into his office as she did the belt of her trench coat up.

"Okay, oh and Haley, I spoke to my friend and he said that you can take his apartment if you want to, so think about it and let me know okay?"

"Oh wow. Thanks Luke I will do. Have a nice evening."

"Same to you." Lucas said as he continued tapping away on his computer.

Haley walked over to the elevators and waited patiently for one to arrive. When she heard the doors open she walked in and pressed the button that would take her to the ground floor, as she mentally geared herself up for one serious talk with Tom.

She walked out of the building and saw Tom waiting for her. He kissed her on the cheek and they walked hand in hand towards the restaurant he had chosen for them to eat in.

Haley couldn't help but feel nervous, every time she brought up their living arrangements it ended in a huge argument, and she was sure tonight would be no different. He opened the door to the restaurant for her and she walked inside.

Halfway through the meal, Haley had built up enough courage to start talking about their relationship, which it had seemed both of them were avoiding like the plague. Haley put her knife and fork down and rested her chin in her hands. "Tom, we really need to talk..."

"I know we do honey." Tom smiled back at her.

He was really infuriating her, how he could just say that he knew they needed to talk and then just smile.... God he was annoying, why wouldn't he just talk!? "So..."

Tom kept smiling at her.

Haley sighed, deciding that she was going to have to take the lead. "Tom, when are we going to start acting like a couple that have been dating for two years instead of two months?"

"We don't act like a couple that has been dating for two months."

"Yes we do." Haley said in an agitated tone.

"Well I don't think we do."

"Tom, I live an hour and a half, if not more, away from you, we hardly see each other. I never stay over at your place, in fact, you have been living there for over a year now and I have been there all of three times. You never seem to want me around, you ignore me at work," Haley started rambling on and wasn't looking at him, instead preferring to play with her knife and look at the table. "I have never met your friends, and you show me absolutely no sign of any commitment." Haley finished the last part slowly as she looked down to find Tom sitting on one knee in front of her, with a small, ring sized black box in his hands.

"Haley..." Tom started.

Haley's mind began to race. What the hell was he doing?! He couldn't be about to propose surely? Not when everything seemed so wrong in their relationship.

"I love you. Will you marry me?"

_Oh shit. _He just proposed. "Tom... how... what... I don't know what to say?"

Tom opened up the box and Haley stared in awe at the beautiful ring sitting in the box. "Just say yes." She heard him say to her.

"But Tom, we still have loads to talk about..."

"Haley, you said I didn't show you any commitment, well this is it... commitment."

"I know but... what about our living arrangements."

"Let's just take this one step at a time. We don't have to get married right away but I want you to know that I love you and that I want to be with you."

Haley closed her eyes. She didn't know what to think. Her mind kept flashing back to that conversation she'd had that morning with Nathan, yes she was unhappy with Tom, but that was because she wanted commitment wasn't it, commitment that he wasn't willing to give her? And now here he was down on one knee offering her what she wanted. "Okay." Haley said quietly, smiling at Tom as he slid the ring onto her left finger, before giving her a kiss on the lips.

She smiled as she looked down at the ring once Tom had gone back to his seat, hoping with all her heart that this would solve all their problems, but unable to shake that feeling that lingered heavily inside of her that nothing could save them, not now.

~*~

Nathan sat alone in his office at home. It was eleven o'clock but he still had a mountain of things to do, that seemed to be getting larger instead of shrinking. It didn't help that he couldn't concentrate. His mind kept wondering to Haley and he couldn't get her out of his head. He had no idea what to do about these feelings he had for her, especially as she was in a relationship. He sighed as he picked up his phone and called his sister in law, looking for some advice.

"Nathan!" Brooke answered her phone.

"Hi Brooke."

"What's got you calling so late?" Brooke asked intrigued.

"I need some advice." Nathan said as she took a deep breath before revealing his secret, one that he had only told Luke about, and found his hands fiddling with the cord of the telephone as he thought about what to say to her.

"Come on then, spill." Brooke said impatiently.

"There's this girl that I met..." Nathan started but was interrupted.

"Oh you mean the coffee shop girl?"

Nathan stopped playing with the telephone cord. "You know about her."

"Yeah Luke told me about her."

"Damn him!" Nathan said as he shook his head.

"Nathan, we're married, we have no secrets, especially when they involve you and a girl! Those kind of secrets are far too juicy to be kept under wraps."

Nathan sighed. "So you know everything?"

"I know whatever you told Luke."

"Great so you do know everything." Nathan muttered.

Brooke shrugged and couldn't help giggling at Nathan. "So what do you need advice with?"

"Well you know I like her right? And I think she likes me... but she has this boyfriend who she is so not happy with... and I don't know what to do about it." Nathan let out a long breath.

"Have you talked to her about the boyfriend?"

"All the time."

"And?" Brooke asked.

"And we argue about it. She doesn't seem to want to do anything about it. But she is so unhappy Brooke and I know that I could make her happy." Nathan closed his eyes and leaned his head back, he knew she would be a thousand times happier with him, why couldn't she see that?

"So tell her how you feel." Brooke said casually.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"She won't freak out or anything?" Nathan asked, wanting a girls opinion on this.

"She might... but at least she will know how you feel."

Nathan thought about it for a moment, unsure of what to do. "I guess I could try that."

"Good, do it Nathan, you'll only regret it if you don't... and don't forget to tell me how it goes! Night Nathan."

"Night Brooke."

Nathan hung up the phone and ignored the rest of his work, that could wait until tomorrow. Right now he had to think about what he was going to say to Haley.

~*~

Haley walked along the sidewalk, her gloves on her hands as she played with her ring through the material. She wasn't used to wearing her ring yet and the whole concept of being engaged felt totally alien to her. She thought back to last night, for once, Tom had invited her back to his place, which was a start but she still didn't understand why he was so against them living together. They were engaged now; surely living together was even less of a step forward than getting married?

Haley walked into Starbucks, seeing Nathan sitting at his usual spot, but with no paper today. He smiled as he motioned for her to come and see him.

"I got you your girly coffee." Nathan said with a smile as he pushed the cup towards her.

"Thanks Nathan." Haley smiled back, noticing his espresso cups stacked neatly on the table. "And how many of those have you had this morning?" She asked as she pointed to the table.

"Three."

"Not as bad a five then!" Haley teased as she sat down on the chair.

Nathan laughed. "So you have a good evening?"

"It was okay." Haley said as she took a sip of her coffee. Somehow, she didn't want to tell Nathan about her engagement, and she didn't know why she felt that way. Maybe it was because she thought it would change things between them or mean that they wouldn't meet up so much anymore, she didn't know. All she knew was that she didn't want to risk not seeing him every day.

Nathan noticed that she still had her gloves on. "You not going to take them off?"

"Nah, it's a bit cold today." Haley said as her cheeks flushed red. He must think she was a total weirdo or something, but she didn't want to reveal her ring to him, not yet.

"Okay." Nathan shrugged as he gulped down the rest of his espresso. He was so nervous, his palms were sweating and his heart was racing. He wasn't sure if he had the confidence to just tell her how he felt about her, not today. He shook his head. He definitely couldn't do it. He just knew he had to get out of there, he felt suffocated, his mind teasing him with the fact that he couldn't build up enough courage to say that he liked her. "Well I have a meeting in ten minutes so I need to go." Nathan lied as he got up from his seat and put his coat on.

"Oh, okay." Haley said in a disappointed tone. She really wanted to talk to him today. "I guess I could go to work too, though I might give my boss a heart attack given that I would actually be early for a change!"

Nathan laughed along with her as he walked out of the coffee shop with her.

Haley could tell something was wrong with him, he wasn't his usual self, and he never usually had to run to meetings, especially before nine. "Nathan, is something wrong?" She asked.

Nathan looked down at her standing in front of him. He looked into her soulful brown eyes that were full of concern for him. The wind had just blown some of her out of her ponytail so he reached out and brushed it away from her face, placing it securely behind her ear.

Haley closed her eyes when she felt him reach out to place her hair behind her ear. She didn't know what was happening between them in that moment, but when she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into his gorgeous blue eyes, getting completely lost in them. Her heart was beating so fast and she didn't even know why, he was just looking at her, he had just touched her hair, that was all. She was a confused mess, what with everything that was going on with Tom and now seeing Nathan look at her like that, she didn't know what she felt. She knew deep down that she liked Nathan; why else would she look forward to seeing him every day? But she loved Tom, she was sure of it, or at least she thought she was sure of it, for looking at Nathan now, those feelings for Tom were being diminished, extremely rapidly.

Nathan didn't know why he was doing it but he felt himself leaning in to her. He couldn't find any words, he was a nervous wreck, but he needed her to know how he felt. He needed to show her that he could make her happy. He felt his lips connect with hers and waited.

Haley closed her eyes when she felt his lips on hers. She knew she should have stopped it, but she didn't, she couldn't, her body wouldn't react to what her head was telling it to do. She felt his lips land on hers and before she knew it, she found herself wrapping her arms around his neck and was kissing him back.

**AN – Arghhh...! So what did you think? Please let me know what you thought, and also whether you think I should continue... I'm a bit unsure...! Thanks guys! x**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN – Okay guys – you are all officially amazing! I wasn't all that confident with this story – but you guys have sent my confidence soaring and for that I want to say thanks!**

**I sent those of you that I could a PM to just say thanks for the review and to those of you who reviewed anonymously or don't have an account but still took the time to review that first chapter (brutus, Gonggirl, Julie, Anonymous, abc123, Melissa, Meg, Sam) THANK YOU SO MUCH! Each of you words means so much to me and so here I am with the next chapter, which I hope you will all enjoy just as much and as always – let me know your thoughts... I love reading what you are thinking!**

**Right, now that the thank yous are out of the way, on with the story. I'm glad I managed to surprise a few of you with the whole Tom working under Nathan... I know a lot of people don't like to read about Nathan and Haley not being together but I am a HUGE Nathan Haley fan so keep reading... ;o), this is definitely not going to be your average love story – there are going to be many twists and turns on the way and I hope a few surprises – but I'm not going to get into that now..., you're all going to have to keep reading to find out what's going to happen! I also just want to clear up something. Haley knows that Tom works for a Nathan, she just doesn't know that it is the same Nathan that she has been meeting up with for the past couple of months... so obviously she also knows that the ultimate owner of the company she is working for is Nathan Scott... but don't forget, the Nathan she meets at the coffee shop – well she doesn't know his last name and has never met Nathan Scott at work, as he works in a different building to her. (I'm rambling!)**

**Also, with regards to Tom, who I think we will all agree on – is slightly strange! Well – all will be revealed in later chapters... I don't want to give away too much right now but there is a lot of drama to come there...! This chapter gives a little more insight into Haley and Tom's relationship – which will help with what is about to happen in the next couple of chapters.**

**All that's left to say is that I hope you all enjoy this chapter! (and sorry for that HUGE ramble – but I think you guys come to expect that from me now ;o)**

**Oh and Danielle – I think you are going to get your wish in this chapter and also in the next chapter of Kiss the Rain! **

**Chapter 2**

Nathan's heart nearly leapt out of his chest, it was pounding so hard, he didn't understand how it hadn't burst into a million pieces. He felt like someone needed to pinch him, to check whether he was dreaming, he could have sworn that this was some cruel fantasy playing out in his head, for this was something he had wanted to do ever since he had first laid eyes on Haley two months ago when she had first walked into Starbucks, and therefore, it couldn't be real. But when he felt her tongue slide into his mouth and begin to tangle with his, when he heard her moan and pull him closer to her, when he felt her fingers run over his back, he knew this was no dream and he couldn't believe that she hadn't slapped him, he couldn't believe this was happening, he couldn't believe that she was actually kissing him back, and it felt amazing, he never wanted this kiss to end.

Haley didn't know what had come over her. She knew what she was doing was wrong, very wrong, but she was conflicted. How it was possible for something so wrong to feel so right she didn't know. She was engaged to Tom, and yet here she was kissing Nathan, and she couldn't stop. She felt Nathan's hands on her waist, pulling her closer to him, and she was doing the same to him, she needed to be closer, and even though she knew that wasn't possible, she was going to damn well try. She had never felt a kiss full of so much softness in her whole twenty five years of existence. It was slow and sensual, their tongues tangling gently together, his hands rubbing circles on her waist, and she knew what Nathan was trying to say with it, he was trying to make her see that she was unhappy with Tom, that she would and could be happier with him. And in that very moment she believed him.

But then the guilt crept into her stomach, she felt sick at what she was doing to Tom; she couldn't stop seeing his face flash through her mind. She had only last night accepted a proposal from her boyfriend, well her now fiancé, and then the very next morning, he she was kissing another man. His damn face wouldn't go away, she closed her eyes tighter, trying to banish it from her mind but that only seemed to make the image appear more focussed. _Damn him. _She couldn't continue with this anymore and so pulled away suddenly; keeping her eyes closed as she didn't want to face the truth that was standing right in front of her. She felt Nathan's forehead lean against hers, both their breathing laboured and heavy from the kiss that they had just shared.

"Haley." Nathan said breathlessly as he ran his hand down her face. Her skin was so smooth and she was so damn gorgeous. He didn't want their kisses to ever stop. He wanted more from her. He could stand right in this very spot for the rest of the day and he wouldn't care about the business, he wouldn't care about the passersby who would no doubt wonder what the hell it was that they were doing. It wouldn't matter what anyone said or did, all that mattered was that he needed to be with her.

His voice only made this seem more real. Haley knew she should have said no, she should have pushed him away, she should have run away from him, but she didn't, and the fact that she had enjoyed the kiss made her feel even guiltier. She opened her eyes and spoke as softly as she could. "Nathan...."

Nathan didn't like the tone of her voice, he didn't want to hear her tell him that the kiss was a mistake, because it wasn't, he was sure of it. He needed to salvage something from the step forward they had taken; he didn't want things to go back to how they were before, not now that he knew what kissing her felt like, he was positive he wouldn't be able to go back to the way things were. "Haley, please don't say that was a mistake, because it wasn't. I know how unhappy you've been and I want to show you that I can make you happy..."

"Nathan I can't cheat on him." Haley said quietly as she shook her head and looked at the ground, the buildings, the cars passing by, anywhere but at Nathan, the guilt at what had just happened flowing through her every word.

Nathan could see how conflicted she was and it stirred his feelings for her, he didn't want her to be in pain or doubt what she was doing, he didn't want to be the cause of that, but her happiness was far more important to him and he needed to show her she wasn't in the right relationship. He sighed. "Okay Haley, but come out with me tonight... please."

Haley looked up at him and nearly slapped him. She had just told him that she couldn't cheat on Tom and he was inviting her out on a date. What the hell did he think he was doing?

Nathan saw the dirty look that she threw at him and knew he needed to do some damage control. "Not as a date..." He quickly cut in. "Just as friends."

"Friends?" Haley questioned him incredulously, wondering how after sharing a kiss like that, they could ever be together alone and resist a repeat performance, she wasn't sure she would be able to...

"Yes friends." Nathan said back strongly, trying to convince himself that that was possible.

"Nathan, I don't know if I, if we, can do that now." Haley pondered, her eyebrows creasing at what he was suggesting. Quite how they could hang out together as friends after they had shared a kiss like that, well, it was impossible, it had to be.

"Just give me a minute okay?" He asked her.

Before Haley could answer him, Nathan had run back into Starbucks. Haley stood waiting in the cold for him, wondering what the hell he was doing, what the hell she was doing waiting for him, but she couldn't move, she was curious. She shivered and grabbed her still gloved hands in front on her, trying to warm herself up when she felt it again. It was like it was torturing her, making her feel even guiltier than she already was, the protruding diamond scratching along her hand. She stopped trying to warm her hands and placed them down by her sides. She didn't want to be reminded of that now. She watched as Nathan rushed out of the coffee shop back towards her.

"Here." Nathan said as he handed her a piece of paper.

Haley looked at the folded up piece of paper and didn't even open at it as she placed it in her purse. She gave Nathan one last look, turned on her heels and walked away from him, this time not looking back. She needed to focus on her relationship with Tom. That was what she had decided, in that moment. She took her gloves off as she walked into the office building, looking down at her ring. If Tom was ready to commit to her, then she was going to do the same to him. She had to; she couldn't let a kiss with Nathan ruin what she had with Tom, they had been together for two years and that had to mean something, he had asked her to marry him for crying out loud. She and Nathan... well she didn't even know what that was, but it had to stop.

~*~

It was eleven o'clock in the morning and Haley had hardly done any work. She couldn't shake that feeling that had been lingering ever since she had broken away from that kiss with Nathan from the pit of her stomach. She knew she had done wrong and it was playing on her mind. She sighed as she picked up the phone. She needed to speak to him, to hear his voice, as if hearing it would miraculously change what had happened this morning. It was worth a shot. She wanted to feel the love and confidence that Nathan had had when he told her how happy he could make her, only she wanted it from Tom. She needed a sign and she just hoped that Tom was going to give her the right one.

"Hello, Scott Investment Management, Tom speaking." She was jolted out of her day dream by his voice and quickly spoke back.

"Hi Tom, it's me." Haley replied.

"Hi Haley, how's it going?" Tom asked and Haley could hear him begin to type away at his keyboard, and she couldn't help the sigh escaping from her lips, he always seemed to have something more important to do when it came to speaking with her.

"Not too bad." Haley said.

"Good." Tom said back.

Haley sighed heavily; it was pretty obvious that conversation with Tom didn't seem to flow as easily as it did with Nathan. She mentally told herself off though, she didn't want to start comparing Tom to Nathan, that wasn't fair... was it?

Regardless of whether it was fair for her to compare Tom to Nathan, she needed to talk to him about their living arrangements, especially as Lucas had said that his friend had that apartment for her, she needed to give him an answer soon about whether she was going to take it or not. She sighed, she didn't really know why she was going to have this conversation with him, already knowing the outcome, but she silently hoped that he would tell her that she didn't need this apartment, that he was happy for her to live with him instead. _Here's hoping. _She thought to herself as she took a deep breath before beginning to speak. "Well the reason I called is that my boss is concerned about my commute into work and he has this friend who has an apartment which he is offering for me to rent..."

"You should take it Haley." Tom cut in.

_Great. _That wasn't what she wanted to hear at all. He hadn't even stopped to think about it, he had just told her to take it, no questions asked. It seemed he really didn't want her living with him. "Okay, I guess I'll take it." Haley blew out. She didn't know what his problem was but it needed some discussion. "Tom... can we please meet up tonight to talk?" She didn't know what she wanted to say to him yet but she knew that they needed to sort some things out, they couldn't continue the way they were, she knew that much, Nathan was right, she was unhappy.

She heard Tom sigh down the phone; it seemed he was sick of talking about this, but if he would just open up to her then there wouldn't be an issue. She found herself wondering why the hell he proposed to her in the first place but quickly pushed that thought aside, she couldn't think like that.

"Haley, I don't know what there is to say, especially if you are going to rehash the living situation..."

"I don't want to discuss that." Haley interrupted him. "I just want to talk."

"Fine. I'll pick you up at six thirty okay?" Tom said and Haley could tell he wanted to get off the phone now.

"Yep, that's fine. See you later Tom." Haley said in defeat.

"Bye Haley."

Haley hung up the phone, a little upset at the whole situation; she knew that the guilt was still brewing inside of her but the way he acted with her seemed to make some of that guilt melt away, was it right to feel that way?

~*~

Nathan had just got off a conference call with some of his Board members and had just started to do some research on a company he was looking into acquiring when he heard the door to his office open. He looked up to see who had interrupted him. "Tom! Tell me its good news?" Nathan asked, hoping that Tom was engaged, he deserved to be, he worked hard and deserved some happiness outside of work, where he was excelling in every challenge Nathan threw his way.

Tom smiled at his boss. "I'm engaged!" He said. It sounded good to say it.

"That's fantastic news! Congratulations!" Nathan smiled at him, pleased that his girlfriend had said yes to him.

"Thank you Nathan. I'm sorry about yesterday night too; I know it was last minute and all. How did the meeting go?" Tom asked.

"It went very well apparently so no worries. I got Shane to go in your place and no disasters were reported and the deal is still on." Nathan responded.

"Good, I'm glad."

"So when are we all going to meet your fiancé?" Nathan asked, curious about the woman Tom had kept hidden for about two years.

"Oh, I have no idea..." To said, a little flustered, he had no idea his boss would want to meet Haley.

"Well we'll all want to meet her, especially now you're going to marry her!" Nathan said.

"Yeah I guess so, I'll fix something up."

"Do that, we're all dying to meet the girl who has agreed to put up with you for the rest of her life!" Nathan teased.

Tom laughed. "Anyway, I'd better get back to work, lots to do and all."

"Okay." Nathan said as he watched Tom walk out of the office. Upon hearing his good news, he couldn't help but think about what happened between him and Haley that morning. He prayed that she read the piece of paper he had given her, the last look she had given him wasn't one that filled him with a lot of confidence. He sighed. He'd just have to wait and see if she showed up.

~*~

Haley sat at her desk with her head in her hands. She needed to concentrate; she needed to actually get some work done today. She lifted her head and saw Peyton, her co-worker standing next to her, a huge grin on her face.

"Trouble in paradise?" Peyton asked teasingly, she had heard Haley sighing nonstop all morning.

"You could say that." Haley mumbled.

"I'll tell you what, why don't we go and grab a coffee in the canteen and we can have a chat about it?" Peyton offered.

"I'd love to Peyton, but I have so much work to do..." Haley tried to argue but was interrupted.

"Haley, you're not going to get anything done, not until you've had a break and cleared your head." Peyton said sternly as she grabbed Haley off her chair and led her towards the canteen.

After they had both grabbed a coffee and were seated at a table, Peyton spoke.

"So come on, out with it." Peyton said.

Haley sighed; she didn't know what to tell Peyton, everything seemed wrong and she was sure talking about it wouldn't help at all. She needed to figure this one out herself. But when she looked at Peyton, she couldn't help but get some of it out of her system. "I don't know where to begin!"

"Well I noticed that ring on your finger this morning, but you don't seem all that thrilled about it!" Peyton asked, concern pouring through her voice at her friend. How she could be engaged and not tell anyone about it, Peyton didn't understand, she thought engagements were huge and was surprised Haley wasn't screaming about it to anyone that would listen.

Haley offered Peyton a small smile.

"So what's up with that? I thought when you got engaged you were supposed to be excited, happy and not be able to shut up about it, but you're not any of those things."

"I just... its... it's so complicated." Haley stuttered, not sure if she wanted to tell Peyton the whole story, Nathan and all, or whether she should just stick to the Tom side of things, she had plenty to say about that anyway and so Peyton probably wouldn't think there was anything else wrong after she had listed all the problems they seemed to be having lately.

"Well tell me about it then, maybe I can help." Peyton said with a smile.

"Well Tom proposed last night, it was a bit out of the blue if I'm honest and I think the only reason he did it was because we kept arguing about the fact that I didn't feel like he was showing any commitment, I mean, we have been together for two years, and all I wanted him to do was say we could move in together..." Haley started her ramble.

"Well that would make sense given that you live so far away." Peyton threw in.

"I know right? But he says he isn't ready for that, and then he takes me out to dinner and proposes... and I'm just so confused, I really don't know what to think about it all." Haley sighed and started playing with the napkin that she found on the table, ripping it to shreds.

"Well I would have thought getting married would freak a guy out more than living together would?" Peyton pondered.

"So would I, but apparently not this guy." Haley sighed.

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"It's like a broken record. He says the same thing over and over. All I get is him telling me how he's not ready for us to be living together, it's just so frustrating. I just don't understand, what are we going to be married for fifty years but still live separately? It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. And then there's the fact that we haven't had sex in months. Months Peyton. It's driving me up the wall." Haley said the last bit in a low whisper.

Peyton couldn't help but laugh at Haley's rambling.

Haley shot Peyton a glare that told her to stop laughing immediately.

"I'm sorry Haley; the whole no sex thing doesn't sound fun."

"It isn't trust me." Haley mumbled.

"Have you talked to him about that?"

"No... I've tried stuff though, you know, I've bought sexy lingerie, other stuff too, but he's never interested. I mean I know he works hard but he can't be that tired all the time, can he?"

"I don't really know what to say to that to be honest Haley."

"Neither do I." Haley mused to herself more than to Peyton. "He just completely ignores me."

"Haley, you have to tell him about your concerns, I mean how can you be engaged to someone when you have all these doubts and problems hanging over you?"

Haley thought about Peyton's words and she knew she was right. She did have to tell Tom about them, and at least she was seeing him tonight so she could get all this off her chest. Then it would all be out in the open and they could talk about how to fix it.

"Is there anything else bothering you?" Peyton asked.

Haley bit her lip. She knew she should tell Peyton about Nathan, she needed to tell someone about it, but she didn't want Peyton to think that she was a bad person, she didn't know if Peyton would understand.

"Haley, you can tell me if there is something else, I'm here to listen." Peyton gently prodded Haley, knowing fore well that there was something else up with Haley, she had that look on her face.

Haley took a deep breath. "I've been kind of meeting up with this guy every morning since I started working here." She blurted out before she could stop herself.

Peyton gasped. "You've been having an affair?"

"No, nothing's happened between us, well at least not until today..."

"What do you mean, 'not until today'?" Peyton asked, leaning in like Haley was about to reveal a huge secret, which frankly, she was.

"We just sit and chat each morning while we have a coffee. And it's fun and light-hearted and he makes me smile. Nothing's difficult with him, you know, its easy conversation." Haley said with a smile as she thought about her morning meet ups with Nathan.

"Uh huh..." Peyton said, willing Haley to tell her more.

Haley took another deep breath. "We would talk about such rubbish you know, but it wouldn't matter because it was exciting and... oh Peyton, you should see his eyes, they are to die for..."

"So what happened today?"

"We sort of... we kind of... we kissed." Haley said in a small voice.

"WHAT?" Peyton shouted.

"Shushh!" Haley said, trying to get Peyton to keep her voice down.

"I'm sorry, but how did that happen?" Peyton asked, her eyes wide in shock.

"I have no idea, one minute he was telling me about how unhappy I was with Tom and the next he was kissing me..."

"Well he's got one thing right then at least, you are definitely not happy with Tom." Peyton interrupted.

"I am happy with Tom." Haley defended herself, more for the reason of trying to convince herself of the fact rather than Peyton.

"Haley, I have just sat and listened to you talk about your fiancé and some guy you know from a coffee shop, and it's not hard to see which person you preferred talking about."

Haley looked down at the table. She felt absolutely horrible at the moment. She couldn't even get excited about her fiancé. Something was definitely wrong with that.

"Looks like you have some decisions to make Haley." Peyton said as she tapped Haley on the hand and got up to go back to work, leaving Haley completely lost in her thoughts.

~*~

Tom was sat at his desk, mulling over whether he really wanted to talk to Haley tonight. He'd already had such a busy day and he didn't feel like arguing with her, not tonight. He picked up his phone and dialled her number.

"Scott Investment Management, Haley speaking."

"Haley, its Tom."

"Hi Tom, I was just getting ready to leave, are you nearly done?" Haley started to put her papers away for the night.

"I'm sorry babe, I'm not going to be able to make it, I need to get this proposal done and it's going to take me a while." Tom lied.

Haley could tell he was lying; he always called her babe when he was lying. "Well can't you do that after we have met up?" She asked politely, not wanting to shout at him just yet.

"Babe, I can't I'm sorry, I really need to get it done."

"Tom, I really need to talk to you tonight, please can you just do that after you have seen me. This won't take long." Haley could hear her voice starting to rise but after her chat with Peyton and what happened with Nathan, she needed to see him and talk to him.

"Haley, I'm sorry but no." Tom said firmly.

"Tom...." Haley warned.

He didn't say anything.

"You know what Tom? This is bullshit. You are driving me crazy... I only want to talk to you and you can't even offer me half an hour of your fucking precious time..." Haley held the phone away from her ear when she heard the tone beep down the telephone. Motherfucker had hung up on her. She slammed the phone down on her desk and groaned out in frustration, he was the most uncooperative asshole she had ever met. She looked down at her ring and scoffed. She was so foolish to believe that the ring could change anything between them. She took it off her finger and placed it on the table, glaring menacingly at it. She reached for her bag and searched for her purse, only to come across the piece of paper that Nathan had given her that morning.

She pulled it out of the bag and opened it carefully. She read his scrawny writing and saw an address of a hotel bar written on it, along with 7pm. She recognised the address, it would take her about twenty minutes to get there. She glanced down at her watch and saw that she had fifteen minutes until he wanted her to be there. She debated with herself for a minute, wondering if she really should be doing this, wondering what would happen, if anything, if she met up with Nathan. She thought back to how rude Tom was and didn't give it another thought. She grabbed her ring and zipped it inside of her purse, hastily put on her coat and ran out of the building, hailing a cab once she had got out onto the street.

~*~

Nathan sat in the hotel bar with his scotch on the table. He looked at his watch and saw that it was ten past seven. He sighed. He was going to give her another minute and then he was going to leave. He had been sitting there for way over half an hour now, he was nervous and wanted to be there early just in case Haley decided she was going to turn up before him, but now the waitresses were starting to give him funny looks and he started to feel a little uncomfortable sitting in a bar all by himself.

He gulped down the rest of his scotch a minute later and stood up to leave, when he saw her come rushing into the bar, looking absolutely amazing. She was dressed in a knee length black skirt which she teamed with a red button up shirt, her trench coat open, and she had some stilettos on which made her fantastically shaped legs look even hotter than they usually did.

"I was just about to give up on you but then I remembered that you are never early for anything!" He teased her as she sat down in one of the plush leather armchairs that surrounded the table. He watched how when she crossed her leg, her skirt rode up her thigh, allowing him to sneak a glance at her soft looking skin which lay underneath the skirt. She was stunning. He couldn't help his gaze that wandered slowly up her deliciously curvy body.

"Ha ha, very funny!" Haley snipped back at him sarcastically, throwing a smile his way just in case he thought she meant it though.

Once the waitress had delivered Haley's Bacardi and coke and a new glass of scotch for him, he watched as she gulped down half of her drink, placed it on the table and then sunk back in her chair, and started to play with her hands and bite down on her lip. "Haley, why are you so nervous?" He asked, almost laughing at her.

Haley looked up at him, meeting his eyes slowly. "It just... I feel like I'm cheating." Haley admitted, that feeling she'd had in the pit of her stomach was now taking over her entire body.

"Haley, this is just simply two friends, having drinks okay? There is nothing to feel guilty about." Nathan tried to soothe her worries away.

Haley nodded her head and grabbed her drink so she had something in her hands, maybe that way she would stop fidgeting so much. She was actually nervous and apprehensive about this evening; it felt strange to be sitting with him in a place other than Starbucks. Starbucks was comfortable, but sitting in this bar, it was more than outside her comfort zone, she felt like she was cheating on Tom more right now than she had been when she was kissing Nathan earlier, and she had no idea why. Maybe it was because it was the evening, and she and Nathan would only meet in the mornings, or maybe it was because her original plans for this evening were to be with Tom? Or maybe it was because the soft jazz music coming from the piano in the corner, and the low lighting made this feel like a date. She had no idea what was going on, but she couldn't shake that feeling no matter how hard she tried to.

Nathan could see how uncomfortable she was and decided they needed to go somewhere a little less formal, where the music playing wasn't some romantic jazz crap. It obviously wasn't the sort of atmosphere where she was comfortable with him, at least not yet. "Why don't we go and find a livelier bar or something to get some more drinks?" Nathan asked.

Haley nodded her head gratefully and drunk what was left in her glass. This whole atmosphere felt far too romantic for her to consider that drinks with Nathan was innocent, which it totally was, she tried to convince herself as she felt her gaze linger on him and his sexy smile.

Nathan followed Haley out of the hotel and they walked along the street together, neither speaking, instead preferring to listen to the sounds of the people around them. They walked up to a bar which seemed pretty lively. "You fancy trying out this place?" Nathan asked her, hoping that she would feel more comfortable in there.

Haley looked up at the bar, it seemed quite busy and that was what she wanted. "Sure." She said over the music that was blaring out of the door.

Several drinks later, Haley began to feel herself relax around Nathan and the easy conversation that flowed between them returned. They could hardly hear each other over the loud music that was coming from the speakers and so had to lean into each other every time they spoke, but Haley didn't mind, it meant she was able to smell his sexy aftershave each time she leaned in to speak in his ear. He literally smelled divine and she found herself wanting to lick him to see if he tasted as good as he smelt.

Nathan listened intently to what Haley was speaking about in his ear but he couldn't comprehend what she was saying to him, for all his mind would concentrate on was the feeling of her breath on his ear and neck. He closed his eyes, savouring the feel of her being so close to him, his ears refusing to hear what she was talking about and even if he had heard, his brain was in no fit state to comprehend what she was saying.

"So do you want to?" Haley asked him again, prodding him in the arm with her finger, noticing how muscular his arm felt, when he didn't answer her.

Nathan jolted out of his daydream and turned to look at her. _Shit. _He knew she had asked him something and he totally wasn't listening. "Erm.... yes." He said hoping that what she had asked him required either a yes or a no answer.

"Great, come on then!" Haley said as she jumped out of her seat and held out her hand for Nathan to hold on to.

Nathan placed his hand in Haley's and wondered what the hell he had agreed to. He didn't really want to move from where they were sitting, he was having far too much fun talking to her. He continued following Haley in what looked like the direction of the dance floor. _Fuck. _He leaned into Haley so that she could hear what he was saying. "Haley, I don't do dancing." He said simply.

Haley turned to face him and gave him a smile, but continued walking. When she felt that they were suitably in the middle of the dance floor, she wrapped her arms around Nathan's neck and started moving to the beat of the music, but Nathan didn't move an inch. She rolled her eyes at him and grabbed his arms, placing them around her waist and then returned hers, placing them around his neck. She leant into his ear. "Nathan, to dance you have to move."

"I know." Nathan said back in her ear. "I told you, I don't do dancing."

Haley ignored what he was saying to her, she wanted to dance and she wanted to dance with him. She continued moving her hips to the fast pace of the music and felt Nathan's body begin to relax and eventually, he started shuffling along as well. Haley smiled. "You see, you're dancing!"

Nathan lent back from her and smiled at her. "I wouldn't do this for anyone else you know." He said to her.

Haley could feel the blush sweeping across her face and she looked down at the ground. His voice was just so sexy, and the feeling of his arms being around her was incredible.

"I love it when you blush." Nathan said as he gently placed his hand under her chin, forcing her eyes to connect with his.

Haley looked deeply into his stunning eyes, wishing that she wasn't so captivated by him, but she couldn't help it, his eyes were simply too gorgeous for her not to get completely and utterly lost in them. She watched Nathan's gaze run over her face, he was staring at her so intently, and Haley could feel her blush deepening.

"God I can't stop looking at you." Nathan muttered, he was sure that staring at her face until the end of time wouldn't be long enough for him; he was completely enchanted by her.

Haley laughed shyly and closed her eyes, a shiver running through her body due to the thumb Nathan had just run over her cheek bones.

"I'm sorry." Nathan said as he looked down to the ground but quickly reconnected his gaze with Haley's. "You really are amazing though, I just can't take my eyes off you."

Haley smiled back sexily at him. His voice was so husky and low, he commanded her attention and every single time he opened that incredibly hot mouth of his, Haley found herself wishing that it was on top of hers. She needed to kiss him again; she didn't care about anything else in the world, other than that craving that was running through her body, and she couldn't deny herself of it, it wasn't possible to, she wasn't strong enough, she didn't have the willpower.

Nathan saw the way she was smiling at him, looking at him, he was so turned on by her, he could only think of one thing and that was the need to kiss her again. He lowered his hand from her face and clasped his hand around her wrist, leading her off the dance floor hastily. He didn't know where he was going or what he was doing, it was like his body had just taken over and his brain wasn't functioning. He found a corner of the club and pushed her back against the wall, his hands resting on either side of her, his eyes completely devouring her.

Haley felt her back hit the wall and had honestly never been so turned on in her life. The way he was looking at her, the way his eyes were slowly running over her face, she could see the craving he had for her in every look he gave and she knew that he felt exactly the same way she did. She watched as his mouth quickly came down on top of hers and moaned instantly when she felt the contact, her hands instinctively wrapping themselves around his neck. Haley felt his tongue force its way into her mouth, before she had even had a chance to open her mouth and she pulled him even closer to her, her hands beginning to move into his hair, tangling her fingers in it.

Nathan's animal instincts had officially taken over. He was absolutely ravishing her, his mouth moving fast and furious over hers, before he pulled away and ran a series of hot, went kisses down towards her jaw, and then licked his way down her neck. He could hear Haley moaning his name, and that fuelled him on furiously. He started to kiss harshly at her neck, moving towards her pulse point, biting and grazing his teeth along her skin as he went.

Nathan pulled away and ran his hand down Haley's face. "Are you happy Haley?" He asked.

Haley nodded her head and smiled at him, and watched as Nathan moved his mouth back down to her neck. How could she not be happy when she was being kissed like this? She groaned in pleasure when she felt his tongue move over her pulse point. She moved her hands down from his hair and grabbed onto his shirt, clenching her fists, trying to hold herself upright for he was turning her legs into jelly and she was sure she would fall to the ground at any second. She was gasping for air, she couldn't breathe, every time his tongue flickered against her pulse point she felt this surge run right though her and she didn't want it to end.

"God you're so sexy." Nathan muttered against her neck, his teeth nipping down on her soft skin. He opened his mouth and started to suck on her skin.

Haley could feel his mouth latching onto her skin and she knew he was trying to mark her, and as much as she wanted him to, she knew he couldn't. Realisation suddenly hit her, and she placed her hands around his head, pulling him up. "You can't do that, I have a boyfriend." Haley said breathlessly.

Nathan closed his eyes and ran his hands down her arm; her boyfriend was the last thing he wanted to hear about.

Haley looked down at the ground, she was waiting for that guilty feeling to get stronger but somehow it didn't. She was confused by this, she was doing something wrong and she should feel bad about it, but she didn't. She couldn't believe that she now thought it was okay for her to kiss Nathan like that, kiss him in a way that meant that something more was going to happen. "I have to get out of here." She said, shaking her head.

Nathan continued running his hands up and down her arm. "Haley, stay with me tonight." He said huskily, looking into her eyes, knowing that she wanted to.

"I can't." Haley said as she tried to get him off her, she needed some air, she needed to think, she needed to... she didn't know what she needed but she knew she couldn't be around him any longer.

Nathan knew it wasn't worth arguing with her, she had a look of pure determination on her face. "Okay, do you have a pen?" He asked her.

Haley nodded her head and pulled a black pen out of her bag, wondering what the hell he wanted it for. She handed it to him and watched as he grabbed her arm and wrote his phone number in huge writing down her arm.

"Call me." He said as he handed her the pen and walked away.

Haley closed her eyes and leant against the wall of the club, her body still tingling from the kisses Nathan had left on her. She had felt more alive and excited kissing Nathan than she had done when Tom had proposed. She decided she needed to go and see him; she wanted to go and see him and see if there was that same spark between her and Tom as there was with her and Nathan. Haley ran out of the club and hailed a cab, telling the driver to go to Tom's address.

~*~

Haley found herself outside Tom's apartment, gearing herself up to knock on his door. She wondered if he would be able to tell that she had been kissing another man. But she needed to do this; she needed to see if there was anything left, if there was any fire left burning between them. She knocked on the door and waited for him to open it. She waited and knocked again, running out of patience when he opened the door. She walked forward and took his head between her hands, kissing him harshly, almost knocking him over.

Haley heard him mumbling something but she didn't listen, she was waiting for that heat to start between them, she needed it to come. She was practically begging for it. She felt Tom grab her hands and he pushed her away.

"Haley what the hell are you doing?" He asked.

Haley couldn't speak. She was trying to kiss him, and he didn't want to. She looked down at the ground, her hands flopping by her sides. She felt defeated almost. She felt Tom walk towards her and he started running his hands over her arms. He was asking her something but Haley wasn't listening. She looked up and saw that his hands were running over the numbers that Nathan had written on her arm earlier. They were there, bright as day and Tom hadn't even noticed. Haley couldn't believe that she had another man's number written all over her and he was completely oblivious to it. She felt the anger and hurt at the fact that she was practically invisible to him run through her body, she couldn't be in that apartment anymore, and so she turned and ran out of the building, the tears falling down her face as she went.

When Haley got outside, she leant against the wall and found herself sobbing. Once she had calmed down, she started to walk away from the apartment, looking up at the window that belonged to Tom and then down at her arm where Nathan's number was. She didn't want to be alone tonight. She looked up at the apartment again, knowing that she should go back up there and have that talk with Tom that she had wanted to have tonight, but she wasn't sure if he would want to even see her after the way she had run out on him. And then there was Nathan, who made her feel alive and wanted and.... happy. But she was with Tom, she had spent two years of her life with him, and they were good together, or at least they were when they first got together, they just needed to find themselves again, be the people they were when they first met. Haley didn't know what to do, who to call.

She pulled out her phone, dialled the number and waited for a response, praying that he would answer; she needed him to, and she smiled when she heard his voice down the phone.

**AN – Okay! So what did you guys think of that chapter then? Let me know by dropping me a review – I love reading them! x**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN – WOW! I am literally blown away by the response this story has had! I can't believe it and you guys are all SO awesome! Thank you to all of you for taking the time to review! And for those of you that don't have an account and therefore I couldn't reply to your review: (Andrea – your comment made me smile so much so thank you! And Pufkinz – all will be revealed about Tom in later chapters so keep reading!), thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment!**

**For those of you who read my other story: I know I said I was going to update Kiss the Rain first, but inspiration has hit with this story and I wanted to hit it while the iron was hot! So you are getting this update first and I'll work on typing up my chapter plan for Kiss the Rain as soon as this is posted – so that should be up very soon, keep a look out for it!**

**I'm actually really excited about this story and the path that it's going to take... I sure all of you can't wait until Nathan and Haley figure out who they are and how tied together they are... we're working up to that point, don't worry – I'm not going to make you wait too much longer!**

**And I couldn't help smiling at all your Tom theories! Keep reading to find out what's going on...!**

**I'm finding it a challenge (in a good way) to write Haley like this as I've never been in her situation – I've been with my fiancé for seven years now so it's quite interesting to try to portray her emotion, I hope I'm doing an okay job! And as always I'm babbling so I'm going to shut up now and get on with the story!**

**Chapter 3**

"Hello." Haley heard the voice answer her call and smiled. She needed to speak to him, she wanted to speak to him, about what she didn't know, she just knew that she had this desire to hear his voice and before she knew it, she had grabbed her phone and dialled his number. She took a look back at his apartment and sighed. She wondered why Tom wouldn't just talk to her about what was going on from his side, there was no way in hell that he could think their relationship was on the right track, he couldn't be happy, not if she felt this way. She closed her eyes for a second, wondering if he really did think everything was okay, wondering if it was all her fault that she felt this way, maybe she should try harder? Maybe she should stop piling pressure on him? Maybe she should stop seeing Nathan?

"Hello?" The voice said again down the phone.

Haley realised that she hadn't said anything, she didn't know if she should or if she should just hang up immediately. She was still thinking about Tom, about the gigantic mess that was their relationship. She thought again about whether she had done anything wrong, but quickly dismissed those thoughts from her head. She had done all she could to get him to open up to her, he was the one who lied about needing to work late, she had given him the opportunity to talk to her and he had thrown it back in her face. She turned her back on the apartment and walked away, deciding that he was going to have to make the next move, apologise for his behaviour, she wasn't going to come crawling back to him, not this time, he needed to realise that there was a problem, and he needed to find a solution to fix it. But then she thought about what would happen if he didn't realise something was wrong, was she really willing to give up on a two year relationship? She felt her eyes brimming with tears, unsure as to why, she was so confused, Tom made her feel confused as did Nathan...

"Sorry, who is this?" She heard the voice down the phone again, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hi Nathan, its Haley, sorry about not speaking, I... I was just thinking about something." Haley shook her head at herself and continued walking, brushing away the tears that had escaped from her eyes.

"Haley! Are you okay? You don't sound it?" Nathan could hear that something was up the moment she had started to speak.

Haley couldn't help the tiny laugh escaping from her lips. She had said only a couple of words to Nathan and he could already tell that something was wrong, whereas she was sure she could talk for days to Tom and he wouldn't have a clue. "Not really to be honest." Haley said in a small voice as she screwed up her face. She didn't know why she was telling Nathan this, he would only tell her what he had been telling her for the past two months, 'you're not happy, leave him'. She'd heard him say that enough time, but it just wasn't that simple.

"Haley, where are you?" Nathan asked, starting to get worried. He had last seen Haley at the bar they were in earlier that evening and she had seemed fine then, something must have happened in the meantime and given that she had just said she wasn't okay had him fretting about her.

"Just walking around." Haley said as she crossed the deserted street.

"Well that's not a very safe thing to be doing at this time of night is it? Where are you walking to?"

"Nowhere." Haley answered honestly while blowing out a long breath, she didn't have a clue where she was going, if anywhere, she was just walking.

"Hales, it's not very safe for you to be walking around on your own, why don't you come and meet me? We can talk if you want to get something off your chest."

Haley nodded but then realised that he couldn't see that she was nodding her head. It would be good to talk to him, properly. "As long as you don't just say 'you're not happy'." Haley teased, though still talking in a small voice.

Nathan chuckled. "Okay, I promise I won't say those three words. I'm in that hotel bar we started out in."

"Okay, I'll be there in about fifteen minutes."

"See you then Hales." Nathan said as he disconnected the call. He was actually relieved that Haley had called him, even if it wasn't for the reason he had wanted. If she was upset or worried about something, well, he knew what it was, it had to be her boyfriend, he wanted to be there for her. If she needed a friend, that would be what he would be to her, for now.

~*~

Nathan walked down from the suite he was staying in and for the second time that night, he found himself sitting at a table with a glass of scotch in his hands in the hotel bar. He smiled at the waitress; she must think he was an absolute loser. He watched as she started chatting to the barman, throwing glances at him as she did so. Haley couldn't get there fast enough for him.

He finished his scotch and waited for the waitress to come and pick up his now empty glass, ordering himself another scotch and a Bacardi and coke for Haley, and then waited for her to arrive.

Haley walked out of the cab and into the hotel. She turned right as she entered the lobby and headed for the bar, fiddling with the belt of the black coat as she did so. She stopped when she reached the archway which separated the bar from the hotel. The soft piano was still being played, creating a lovely ambiance in the bar. She scoped the bar, trying to find Nathan when she spotted him, looking handsome as ever, still dressed in his blue shirt and black trousers from earlier that night. She smiled at the sight of him but didn't move forward from where she was standing. She needed to make sure she wanted to do this, that she really wanted to see him, to talk to him, as once he knew what was wrong and it was all out in the open, well he might think differently of her, he might think she was stupid or weak or... she didn't know what. She could feel the inner battle with herself starting. To open up to Nathan and tell him all their problems would feel like she was betraying Tom, betraying their relationship, and she wasn't sure really what good it would do if Nathan knew the ins and outs of it. But she needed to tell someone else, other than Peyton, she wanted another point of view on the whole situation. She was still fiddling with her belt and chewed her lip as she forced herself to walk into the bar.

Nathan smiled when he saw Haley walking towards him out of the corner of his eye. She still looked absolutely stunning, even though she was biting down on her lip and looked incredibly nervous as she sat down in one of the chairs surrounding the table, choosing the one that was directly opposite him. "Hey." Nathan said as he smiled to her. "I got you another drink." He pushed the Bacardi and coke towards her.

Haley smiled and took the drink in her hands, taking a sip before placing it in her lap and running her finger over the rim, looking intently into her glass. Haley didn't even know where to start and so preferred the option of staying quiet, hoping that the words would come to her soon.

Nathan watched her for a while. He could tell she had a lot on her mind, and he wanted to be able to help. He knew she wanted to talk but he could tell she was struggling, so he decided to start speaking. "So where did you go?"

"When?" Haley asked, looking up at him.

"When you left the bar, I saw you leaving in a bit of a hurry."

Haley sighed. "I went to my boyfriends." She knew she should tell Nathan about the proposal but that just seemed to make things ten times more complicated, and what she wanted tonight was clarity, things were bad enough as they were, she didn't need to add an engagement into the mix.

Nathan could feel his heart rate increasing just at the fact that she had started talking about him. He hated him, plain and simple. He wished Haley would tell him where he lived so that he could go and beat the living daylights out of him, just because he was making Haley feel this way. She didn't deserve to be with someone like that. "Oh." Nathan said, afraid that if he said anything else a barrage of cursing and shouting would commence.

"Yeah, oh." Haley said with a small smile, and then started remembering what had happened, the way he had looked at her when he pushed her away from him, how small he had made her feel and she couldn't fight the tears that started welling in her eyes.

Nathan took a deep breath, trying to calm his now racing heart. "So what happened?"

Haley laughed bitterly, more at herself than anything. "Nothing happened Nathan. I just... I... I'm such a stupid girl." Haley could feel the tears now falling down her face. "You know, I try and get him to talk to me, and he just lies about having to work late. I just want him to tell me that everything is going to be okay, that all this doubt I have is over nothing, but he won't even give me the time to do that."

Nathan couldn't bear to see Haley like this. He instantly moved so he was now kneeling on the floor right beside her chair, not wanting to see her cry. She was too beautiful to be upset. He placed what he hoped would be a comforting arm around her back and pulled her close to him, feeling her tears soak through his shirt. "Hales, I'm so sorry. I wish there was something more I could do."

Haley let Nathan console her, hiding her face in his chest, not wanting the whole bar to see her like this. She pulled away once the sobbing had stopped, though the tears were still streaming down her face. She looked down at the ground, before speaking. "I talked to him about us living together too, which must have been for about the thousandth time, and I still got the same answer, that he wasn't ready for it. I just don't understand, like you said, your brother was married by the time he had been in a relationship for two years, yet I just don't seem to be moving anywhere in mine. And then once he has said he's not ready, he refuses to talk about it anymore, so I never get any more detailed answers, I just don't know what's going on with him."

Nathan didn't know what to say, for anything he wanted to say, she wouldn't want to hear. He watched as Haley looked around the bar, obviously seeing a few pairs of eyes on her and he knew that she was uncomfortable. "Hales, do you want to go up to my suite, it will be a little more private there."

Haley nodded and allowed Nathan to lead her up to his suite. When they got in the elevator she wondered why he had a suite here when he worked in New York. "Why are you staying here?" She asked.

"My apartment is being redecorated. I only use it on ad hoc occasions, my house is just outside the city, but given how late it was, I didn't fancy the journey and so just booked myself in here." He explained as the elevator doors opened on the top floor of the skyscraper.

Nathan lead the way along the corridor until he got to his room, he pulled out his key card and opened the door, allowing Haley to walk into the room first.

Haley looked around, the suite was massive, probably bigger than her home, and it was decorated so beautifully, it must literally have cost Nathan an arm and a leg to stay here.

"Take a seat; can I get you anything to drink?" Nathan asked as he walked over to the kitchen area.

Haley watched as he walked away from her and sat down on one of the sofas he had motioned for her to sit on. "Can I just get some water please?" She asked.

"Sure." Nathan smiled at her for a second and then grabbed a glass from the cupboard and a bottle of still water from the fridge, getting himself a bottle too. He walked back over to where she was sitting and couldn't help but think how beautiful she was, puffy eyes, red cheeks and all. She was simply the kind of beautiful that didn't need any make up, didn't need anything fancy; she was just a natural beauty. He sighed as he placed himself next to her and couldn't help himself from speaking as he handed her the water. "Your boyfriend's an idiot Haley."

Haley could feel the blush sweeping across her face. "He's not an idiot Nathan..."

"Why do you always defend him Haley?" Nathan cut in, shaking his head at her, wanting to understand why she did that, why she could just accept that he was flawed, why in her eyes, he was still around, why she hadn't just dumped him.

Haley sighed. "He's my boyfriend Nathan, that is why I defend him."

"Even when he's acting like an ass?"

"Especially when he's acting like an ass. I can't explain it Nathan. It's... it's not that I don't know that he can be an ass, but I think it's hearing someone else say it to me that makes me want to defend him. Does that make sense?" Haley tried her best to explain, but it was hard to, especially given that she didn't really know how she felt about Tom in that moment.

"Not really." Nathan scoffed. "If he's an ass, he's an ass. End of."

"It's not that simple." Haley tried to explain again but was interrupted by Nathan.

"Haley as far as I am aware it is, you love him, or you don't, either he makes you happy or he doesn't. So I don't understand why you are defending him when you're upset at him, and have been for quite a while now." Nathan searched her eyes for answers, knowing they were there; he just had to find them.

"It wasn't always this way. At the beginning, we were so happy, you know, two young people, just starting out in a new relationship, it was wonderful. But then..." Haley grabbed her bottle of water and poured it into the glass and held it in her hands, her hand sliding up and down it, thinking about what to say next. "Then... I don't know."

"He changed." Nathan tried to finish off for her.

Haley sighed. "I think we both changed. You know, I got the job in New York, he wasn't used to me being so close to him all the time, I was probably stressed out as I was starting a new job, he is always stressed out at work anyway..."

"Haley, sometimes people don't grow in the same direction, you know, it happens, people just grow apart for a variety of reasons. You don't have to defend it, it's nothing to be ashamed of."

Haley could feel the tears starting again. "I'm not ashamed Nathan, but I can't just throw away a two year relationship, we were good together. I can't just not try and save it, save us." Haley blinked her way through her tears.

Nathan reached out and wiped a tear that had fallen down her soft skin with his thumb before speaking softly. "Do you really think there is something worth saving?"

Haley blinked a few times and then looked at the floor. She knew that Nathan didn't mean to hurt her with what he had just said to her but it did nonetheless. It really made her think, and if she was honest with herself, she wasn't sure that there was something worth saving, and that upset her, that her relationship with Tom had got to such a point where it wasn't even worth trying anymore.

Nathan walked away from Haley back into the kitchen area of his suite, wanting to get another bottle of water. He looked back at her, watching as her brow was knit in confusion as she was digesting his words. He could see how painful this all was for her, and he didn't want it to be, he wanted to wash all her worries away, but he couldn't have her being stuck in an unhappy relationship, that would be far worse.

Haley finished drinking her water and looked at her watch, seeing that it was already midnight. She wasn't going to get home until at least one thirty and that was if she was lucky with her trains. She stood up and walked towards the door. "I'm going to make a move Nathan." She said as she walked.

Nathan stopped pouring his water in the glass and followed Haley, mentally cursing himself for saying that to her. "Haley, I'm so sorry I shouldn't have said that to you."

Haley smiled and shook her head. "No, don't be sorry Nathan; I needed to hear it from someone."

"Well okay but I still feel like shit for saying it to you. It's really not my place."

"Nathan don't worry!" Haley said, laughing at him, at how worried he looked.

Nathan smiled at her. He didn't want Haley to be travelling back home so late at night, he knew she lived quite far away and so decided to ask her to stay here. "Haley, you're not going to get back home for ages, why don't you let me get you a room here." Nathan offered.

"Nathan I can't let you do that." Haley interrupted.

"Well it's either you let me get you a room or I pay for a car to take you home. I'm not letting you travel back on those trains by yourself at this hour; you never know who might be on them."

"Nathan I've done it plenty of times before." Haley said.

"Well not when you have been spending time with me before you are leaving."

"Nathan I can't let you get me a room here, it's far too expensive, and a car is out of the question, I'll be fine."

"Well stay here then, I can sleep on the sofa, you can take the bedroom." Nathan cut in.

Haley sighed.

"I'm not taking no for an answer Haley. Come on, I'll show you the bedroom." He held out his hand for Haley to take.

Haley sighed. "Honestly Nathan, I'll be fine on the train."

"No you won't."

"You're really not going to take no for an answer are you?" Haley asked as she shook her head at him. It was actually rather sweet, how worried about her safety he was.

"Nope." Nathan said with a smile as he felt Haley place her hand in his.

~*~

Half an hour later, Haley and Nathan found themselves both laying back on the bed, watching an old black and white movie that was currently showing on the TV. Nathan didn't usually watch this sort of crap, much preferring to watch some late night sports, but Haley looked positively intrigued by the whole love story.

The credits soon rolled on the screen and Haley turned onto her side so that she was now facing Nathan, and she felt him do the same. She started to play with a strand of her hair. "Have you ever been in love Nathan?" She asked him.

Nathan was a little taken back by the randomness of her question but answered it all the same. "No." He said honestly, he'd never had a girlfriend long enough to love somebody.

Haley smiled sadly at him. "Then you're missing out."

Nathan frowned at her, unsure as to why she was asking him this. He couldn't help the next question that flew from his lips, dreading the answer that she would give him, not wanting her to say yes for that may crush him completely. "Do you love him?"

Haley looked away from his piercing gaze. She felt like he was boring into her sole, his gaze was that intense, and she didn't want him to know the truth by looking at her, Haley wasn't even sure that she knew the answer to that question. "I don't know anymore." She answered honestly, the sadness flowing right through her body.

Nathan heard the unhappiness in her voice; he could see the sadness in her eyes. He knew that she needed someone to be there for her, and he wanted to be that person. He wrapped his arm around her back and pulled her to his chest, using the other arm to stroke her hair.

Haley closed her eyes, enjoying feeling this close to him. She felt tired; she was emotionally drained and knew tomorrow she had some major decisions to make. "Thank you Nathan." She said in a whisper as she felt herself falling asleep.

Nathan held her close to him as he felt her breathing steady and he knew she was asleep. He kissed the top of her head and slowly moved off the bed, not wanting to leave her but knowing that she needed a peaceful night's sleep. He walked out of the bedroom and grabbed the door, closing it behind him, saying a silent prayer to himself that tomorrow she would be happier, whatever she decided to do.

~*~

The next morning, Haley awoke to find herself somewhere completely unfamiliar. She had a bit of a headache, and thought back to the previous night's events, when the memories came flooding back to her. She rubbed her head with her hand and sat up in the bed, looking around the room, trying to see where the hell Nathan was. She had remembered that she had fallen asleep in his arms and now he was nowhere to be seen. She got up and opened the door that was closed and walked quietly into the lounge and found Nathan sound asleep on the sofa. Haley looked at the clock and saw that it was seven in the morning; she was going to have to wake him up soon if they were going to get to work on time.

She watched his sleeping figure on the couch, taking in his gorgeous face, his long eyelashes, his lips; he really was such a good looking man. She leaned into him and whispered in his ear. "Nathan, it's time to get up." Haley pulled away and smiled as she watched him stir, slowly waking up.

Nathan opened his eyes slowly to find Haley standing above him, a stunning smile on her face, she looked absolutely beautiful. "Morning." Nathan said, his voice still thick with sleep.

"Morning to you too." Haley said back to him. "You didn't have to sleep on the sofa you know."

"I wanted to; you were so tired I thought you could do with a good night's sleep."

"Well thank you."

"You're welcome. Do you feel any better?" Nathan asked.

Haley lent down and gave Nathan a kiss on the cheek. "Much better. Thank you for last night Nathan."

"No problem. What time is it?" He asked as he yawned.

"Just after seven." Haley said.

"Fancy getting some coffee?" Nathan asked her with a smile.

Haley smiled back. "Sure."

~*~

Haley walked into her office after she and Nathan had had their morning coffee. She felt so much better today; she didn't find herself thinking about what had happened last night with Tom like she usually would have, she would usually be letting the events run through her mind, dissecting every last detail, reliving the humiliation. But she wasn't going to allow that to happen to her. Today was going to be a good day. She was sure of it.

She walked to her desk and found Lucas already in his office. She placed her coat on the coat hanger and walked over to his office, knocking on the door before she made her way inside.

Lucas was concentrating intently on his work, he had a major investment opportunity coming up in some real estate just north of the city and he wanted to make sure that the offer the company gave was the right one to seal the deal, without paying too much for it of course. He heard the knocking at the door and looked up to find Haley waiting just outside his office. "Hi Haley!" Lucas greeted her and motioned for her to come inside.

"Hi Lucas, did you have a good evening?" Haley asked politely as she took a seat in one of the chairs that was in front of his desk.

"Not too bad, spent most of it working if I'm honest."

Haley laughed. "Sounds fun."

"Absolutely." Lucas said with a roll of his eyes. "So what can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering if the offer for the apartment your friend has is still open?" Haley asked, praying that it was, she honestly didn't think that she could handle her commute much longer. Staying in New York last night made her realise how tired she was from it.

Lucas smiled. "Of course it is Haley. Does that mean you want to take it?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes, I would like to take it." Haley nodded her head in confirmation.

"Do you want to look at it first?" Lucas asked.

"To be honest Luke, it's a duplex penthouse, it's in New York, and it's going to be a hundred times nicer than the place I have at the moment so I don't really think that there is any need for me to see it."

"Fantastic, I can't tell you how pleased I am Haley!" Lucas beamed at her.

Haley laughed at the enthusiasm of her boss.

"Well, I'll give the guy a call and let him know that you want to take it." Lucas said as he picked up his phone, ready to dial Nathan's number once Haley was out of his office.

Haley was curious as to whose apartment this was though and couldn't help but ask who her landlord slash sometimes roommate would be. "So who owns the place anyway?" She asked.

Lucas put the phone down on the hook and looked at Haley. He knew that he should tell her that it was Nathan's, especially as he claimed that he still used the place, but he knew that if Haley knew she would be sharing a house with her boss, the ultimate owner of the company she worked for, well, there was no way in hell she would take it. And Lucas needed her to take it, he needed her to continue working at Scott Investment Management, she was the best secretary he'd ever had and he wasn't about to lose her just because of a landlord. He would just have to convince Nathan to not use the place anymore, hell, he'd even let Nathan use his place if it meant Haley took it. "It's just a friend I know, don't worry, he's a nice guy." Lucas said quickly.

"Oh okay." Haley said, knowing that she had no more detail about the mystery landlord than she had before. But it was too good an opportunity to miss and she wasn't going to say no to living in what sounded like a very posh apartment, especially as she had concluded that Tom was never going to ask her to move in with him. "Well tell him I said thank you very much and that if he wants to sort out how much rent he needs, I can sign a contract or something."

"Will do Haley." Lucas nodded and watched as Haley walked out of his office, picking up his phone once the door had been closed to tell Nathan the good news.

~*~

Nathan had been sitting in his office for an hour now, trying to read through a proposal one of his senior managers had given him, but he couldn't concentrate. His mind kept wandering to what Haley had said to him last night, when she had asked him if he had ever been in love and then told him that he was missing out. No one had ever said that to him before, no one had ever asked him if he'd ever been in love, not even his Mother when she was on one of her 'you need a girlfriend' rampages. He put his elbows on his desk and rested his head in his hands. Was he really missing out? He'd never got that close to a girl before, he was twenty eight years old and had never been in a serious relationship, but before last night, that had never really bothered him. He was more than content to wait for the right girl to come along, he would fall in love, they would get married, have children, live in a big house... well that was the plan anyway. But then Haley had come along. He was sure she was special, 'the one' maybe, but she was taken. And he didn't know how to handle that, should he wait around for her to see it? Should he push her harder to break up with her boyfriend? What happened if she never left him, if she didn't see that she and him were meant to be?

He was jolted out of his thoughts by the phone ringing. He looked at the number calling him and saw that it was Lucas. He picked up, "Hello Luke."

"Hi Nate, I have some good news!" Lucas was practically shouting down the phone.

Nathan held the phone away from his ear. "Calm down Luke!"

"Sorry, but you have a new tenant for your apartment." Lucas said excitedly.

"Oh you mean your secretary said yes? What a surprise!" Nathan said sarcastically, "I mean, who wouldn't want to live in a penthouse apartment in the city of New York for practically nothing?"

"Shut up Nathan." Lucas scolded.

"Well all I can say is that she must be a fucking good secretary if you're asking me to do this."

"She is, trust me."

"I'll bet." Nathan rolled his eyes. "Have you told her who owns the apartment yet?"

"Erm, no not yet."

"Lucas, you have to tell her, you need to make sure she is comfortable with me owning the place."

"I know I know, I will do, don't worry." Lucas said hurriedly, as far as he was concerned, that didn't matter. "So when can she move in?"

"I've had the decorators in, they should be done by Thursday, and I'll send the cleaners in Friday so Saturday should be okay for her to get all her stuff in there."

"Okay, I'll let her know. Do you want a contract drawn up or something?"

"Nah, there's no need really."

"Okay. Thanks again Nathan."

"No problem Luke. I've got to go; I really need to read this proposal."

"Okay, I'll see you soon." Lucas said as he hung up the phone.

~*~

Haley sat at her desk and actually found that she was able to get some work done today ,which surprised her. She did still find her mind wandering to Tom, but it wasn't as often as it had been. If she was honest, she was more pissed off at him that he hadn't done anything to apologise for his behaviour, not just last night but for the past couple of months. She sighed and continued typing the letter Lucas needed, before printing it out and taking it into Lucas' office for him to sign.

"Haley, good news, you can move into the apartment on Saturday!" Lucas said to her as he saw her walk into his office.

Haley was shocked; she didn't expect it to be so soon. "Wow! I don't know what to say, thanks Lucas!"

"You're welcome. And my friend said there was no need for contracts, he'll let me know how much rent he wants and then I'll let you know... don't worry, it won't be extortionate, I promise."

Haley laughed. "Okay."

"So what have you got there for me?" Lucas asked, noticing that Haley had some paper in her hands.

"Oh, this is that letter you asked to be typed." Haley said as she placed the letter down on Lucas' desk.

"Delivery for Haley James." Haley heard someone shouting from outside Lucas' office.

"Excuse me." Haley said to Lucas as she walked out of his office, wondering what the hell was being delivered to her, she hadn't ordered anything as far as she could remember. "Hi, I'm Haley." Haley told the man who was shouting out her name.

"Can you sign here please?" He put his clipboard down on her desk and pointed where she needed to sign.

"What am I signing for?" Haley asked.

The man reached into this huge cardboard box that Haley noticed was beside him. Quite what she could have ordered that could be so large, she had no clue, but when he opened the box and pulled out the biggest bunch of flowers she had ever seen, she gasped. They were literally taller than she was.

"These." The man said. Even he was struggling to carry them. "Where do you want them?" He asked.

Haley didn't know what to say. She pointed at her desk, signed the paper and handed it back to him, staring in amazement at the gorgeous flowers now sitting on her desk.

Lucas had just read through the letter and had signed it when he walked out of his office to give it back to Haley. "Hal... Wow!" He said as he noticed the flowers sitting on her desk. "Someone has an admirer... a very big admirer!" Lucas teased.

Haley rolled her eyes at him. She searched around the flower for the card that usually came with them and when she found it she opened it carefully, reading the words on the card. "I love you. T x"

"So who are they from?" Lucas asked as waited impatiently for her to tell him.

"My fiancé." Haley said, placing the card down on the table and sitting down in her chair, getting back to work.

"Ah, that's no fun... I thought you had a secret admirer or some juicy gossip to tell me!" Lucas chuckled as he walked back into his office.

~*~

Lunchtime was rapidly approaching and Haley's stomach was rumbling like it hadn't been fed in about a week. She sighed, wanting to get this piece of work finished before she went out to grab a sandwich.

"I see you got the flowers then!" Tom said as he walked up to where Haley was sitting at her desk, concentrating on her work.

Haley looked around to find Tom standing at her desk, admiring the flowers that he sent her. She didn't know what the hell he was doing at her desk; he had made it clear when she had got the job at Scott Investment Management that they couldn't flaunt their relationship around the place, at work they were to act like they didn't know each other. Only Lucas knew that Tom and Haley were together. "What are you doing here Tom?" Haley asked, not taking her eyes off her computer screen.

"I wanted to see you." Tom said. "You didn't call to say you got the flowers and I wanted to make sure you did."

"Well you didn't call me either." Haley snapped at him, completely unimpressed at how he was suddenly changing the rules. They had been made very clear to Haley, he had only told her them about a million times.

Tom sighed. "Come on." He said as he held out his hand to Haley.

"Tom, what are you doing? I have work to do." Haley said, completely ignoring his hand that was outstretched for her.

"Not this afternoon you don't." Tom said with a smile.

"What do you mean; I have a pile of work to do."

"I spoke to Lucas, you've got the afternoon off."

Haley looked at him in complete surprise. "What? Why?"

"Cos you are spending the afternoon with me. Come on Haley, please come." He said when he saw the look she gave him.

"Why should I?" Haley said in a childlike manner.

"Because I'm sorry and because I love you." He said sincerely.

Haley looked at his hand and closed her eyes, before placing her hand in his, still not one hundred percent sure what she was going to do, but at least he was here, it was a start.

~*~

The next morning, Nathan waited in Starbucks for Haley, glancing down at his watch, wondering where the hell she was. She was usually late, but never this late. He sighed, knowing that he was going to have to get back to the office in five minutes; he couldn't wait here for her any longer, no matter how much he wanted to.

Five minutes later, he gulped down his sixth espresso shot and put his coat on, walking out of the coffee shop, bumping straight into Haley once he was on the street.

"Nathan!" Haley greeted him.

"I had just given up on you Haley!" Nathan teased. "You do realise how late it is!"

"I know." Haley said, looking at her watch, checking the time.

"So what happened yesterday, come to any conclusions?" Nathan asked, praying that she was going to tell him exactly what he wanted to hear, and he was so sure she was going to, for when he had asked her if she loved her boyfriend the night before last, she hadn't said yes.

"Actually, yes." Haley said as she looked into his eyes.

"And..." Nathan said while holding his breath.

"I've decided to give it another chance with him." Haley said, waiting to see what Nathan's reaction to the news was.

Nathan couldn't believe what she was saying... had she just said that she was going to give him another chance?! She couldn't.... he wouldn't let her.... He found himself unable to breathe, his brain unable to function... and his heart felt like it was shattering into a million little pieces.

Haley looked at him, his expression completely unreadable. When he hadn't said anything after a minute she spoke up. "Nathan, please say something." She begged, unable to take the silence a second longer.

**AN – I know that is so not what you wanted to happen.... so I apologise... but the next chapter is VERY interesting for Nathan and Haley! Let me know what you think... x **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN – Hey guys! I'm still so amazed at how well this story has been received by you all; literally every time a review/story alert/favourite story e-mail comes through I get so excited! It's so lovely to hear that my writing is being appreciated by all you guys and to hear some of you guys say that both this story and Kiss the Rain are your favourite stories at the moment... well that's just amazing! So thank you all so much for the reviews – I love reading what you think about the chapters I post so keep it up! K, Gonggirl and Juliette – you guys don't have accounts so I couldn't respond to your comments but thank you for taking the time to leave them – I really appreciate it! **

**I know in this story we are all rooting for Nathan, and are waiting for Haley to open her eyes and realise that Tom is an ass basically... so we'll see what happens in this chapter and how Nathan reacts to the news that Haley is giving Tom another chance. Also move in day is coming up soon...**

**So here is the next chapter... I hope you all enjoy! x **

**Chapter Four**

Nathan still hadn't said anything. "Nathan... please?" Haley asked after another two minutes of silence had passed, the awkwardness of the situation was driving her absolutely crazy. She stood in front of him, a slight distance between them, and she found that her teeth were biting down on her bottom lip so hard she was sure she was going to cut her lip if she chewed on it anymore, but she couldn't stop. She was shuffling from one leg to the other, her glove covered hands held out in front of her as she played with her fingers, and she was found herself completely unable to be still. Haley had known that this would be awkward, in fact, telling Nathan about her decision to try again with Tom had been playing on her mind the whole of last night, she had barely had a wink of sleep. As Haley thought back to the moment when she had told Tom that she was willing to give their relationship another shot yesterday, Haley was sure that Nathan had been on her mind at that time too, even though her thoughts should have been with her fiancé, focussed completely on him and not clouded by another man. But then again, Nathan seemed to be constantly in her thoughts, especially where Tom was concerned, and that confused her deeply.

Nathan was still unable to form a coherent sentence. He was shocked at her revelation, that was not what he had been expecting her to say, not in a million years, and especially not after the night they had spent talking about her and her boyfriend. She had all but admitted that she didn't love him anymore, and that she was unhappy, so what had changed since then? Why wouldn't she just leave him? Nathan didn't understand and he didn't want to understand her reasoning for all this. All he wanted was Haley. He could feel the frustration and anger running through his veins, it wouldn't stop and then that was before the hurt at what she was saying to him had started to build up inside of him. He needed to find the words to fight back, to make her see what a mistake she was making but the words just weren't forming in his brain and he couldn't even look at her, for fear of what he might do if he did, as if by not looking at her made this somehow seem unreal, like a nightmare that he had the option to wake from, and looking at her would cause this whole situation to become real and become something he needed to deal with.

Haley watched Nathan's expression changing from completely unreadable, to angry, to hurt, to pissed off, back to hurt again and found his silence completely unnerving. She had known that after the night they had spent together, after they had kissed, that telling Nathan wouldn't be easy but she hadn't expected it to be this hard, for him to take it this way. She was scared, scared that by being with Tom, she was going to lose Nathan, and that was something she didn't want to happen, their morning meet ups over coffee were the highlight of her day and she didn't want their friendship to end, she didn't think she would be able to cope without seeing him every day. The thought of hurting him like this caused tears to well in her eyes, she could feel her lip begin to shake and in response she bit down harder with her teeth, trying to stop it. "Nathan." She prompted him softly, quietly, needing him to say something. She could see his eyes were completely avoiding her, looking at anything but her, but she needed him to look at her, she wanted to make sure everything was going to be okay between them, that things would go back to normal after today.

Nathan slowly caught Haley's gaze and could see that her eyes were filled with tears that were threatening to fall at any second. He felt a mix of emotions at seeing her this way, part of him was sympathetic almost to her situation, as he knew that it took a lot of guts to be able to walk away from a two year relationship, but he knew that Haley was strong enough to do it. Then there was another part of him that was pissed off at her for nearly crying. She had created this, she was the one who was staying in a bad relationship, and she was the one who wasn't willing to even give him and her a chance. But the fact that she seemed upset about this was his little glimmer of hope. The fact that she was crying had to mean that she wasn't happy with this set up, that a part of her felt like she was giving up something that had the opportunity to be amazing. He decided to try one last time, give her one more chance to realise that they were meant to be together. He took the steps forward towards her that were needed to close the distance between them, and he placed his hands on her arms, just underneath her shoulders and looked her deeply in her eyes. "Haley, please don't do this." His voice was desperate, he knew this was it; this was his last chance to make her change her mind.

Haley looked into his blue eyes, which were so gorgeous; she nearly forgot to listen to him, finding herself getting lost in them, and not for the first time. She closed her eyes, and the tears started falling down her face due to this action. She felt Nathan's hand move softly up to her cheek, where his thumb wiped them away and when she opened her eyes again, Nathan's hands had moved back to her arms. There was something about Nathan, he was so comforting, she felt so safe with him and there was something so intimate about his action that made her glow inside. But she had to try again with Tom, she owed it to herself and to Tom, and Tom did seem to be trying harder with her, his actions yesterday had proved that. She brought her hands up and wrapped them around Nathan's which were still attached to her arms, and she found herself gripping onto him, not wanting to let him go. "I have to." She said simply, almost regrettably.

Nathan let out a long breath that he didn't even know he had been holding in. He closed his eyes as that little glimmer of hope he had thought he had seen faded away, leaving nothing but darkness. He opened his eyes after a couple of seconds, smiled sadly at Haley and forced her hands from his arms, gently giving them back to her. He couldn't find any words, and if he was honest, he wasn't sure that there was anything left to say, he just knew that he had to get away from there, away from her. She had made her decision, and they both needed to live with it. He turned and started to walk away from her, needing to get into the safety of his office before his heart literally burst into pieces for the second time that day.

Haley watched Nathan turn and walk away, a frown coming across her face. Nothing had really been said between them, nothing had been resolved, she didn't know how he was feeling, whether he was okay with the situation, whether they were still friends. "Nathan?" She called out after him, expecting him to turn around and talk to her, but he continued walking. She didn't know why but she felt like this was so final, that this was goodbye, and she couldn't take that. "Nathan." She called out again, only this time her voice was muffled by the sobs that had started to escape from her body. She watched his retreating form through gaps in people as they all milled around, rushing to get to their places of work, until she lost him. She closed her eyes and prayed that it wasn't for good.

~*~

Haley had been sitting at her desk, staring into space for the last half an hour. She wasn't thinking about anything, she felt completely dead inside, which was ridiculous given that she had only known Nathan for two months, but they had such a connection, she needed him in her life, she was sure of it, and the way he had walked away from her, that last smile he had given her had been so final. She felt like crawling under her desk and sobbing her eyes out, but she knew that she couldn't do that, not at work, she would have to save that for when she got home.

"Haley?" Lucas shouted from his office as he walked out of the door and headed towards Haley's desk.

Haley quickly wiped her eyes, checking that her tears had been brushed away as soon as she was jolted out of her day dream by the sound of Lucas' voice and straightened herself out, putting herself in complete professional mode. She cleared her throat before speaking, not wanting Lucas to know that there was anything wrong with her, she was here to do a job after all. "Yes Lucas, what can I do for you?" She asked politely.

Lucas smiled when he found Haley sitting at her desk; she was such a great secretary, always willing to go the extra mile and always gave one hundred and ten percent at work. "Can you print off the presentation regarding the property upstate that we're looking into? I just want to have a run through it tonight before the meeting tomorrow."

"Sure I can, is there anything else I can do for you?" Haley asked, smiling back at her boss.

"No, that's all for now. Thanks Haley." Lucas said as he walked back into his office, closing the door behind him as he had a conference call that he needed to start.

Haley sighed and got started, trying to find the presentation she had been typing up for Lucas last week. Nathan kept popping into her mind, she wished she could just forget about him but it wasn't so easy after the morning discussion they had had. She opened up the presentation and hit print, and waited for the mountain of paper to come out of the printer. Once it had been printed, she picked it up and walked over to Lucas' office, seeing that he was on the conference call and so quietly opened the door, leaving the stack of paper on his desk. Lucas smiled at her in appreciation and she walked back to her desk, ready to start her constant thinking of Nathan again.

After five minutes of thinking of Nathan, Haley decided that she needed cheering up. She decided to call Tom, wanting him to provide her with some comfort, wanting him to confirm to her that she had made the right decision in giving him another chance. She picked up the phone and dialled his extension, waiting for him to answer.

"Scott Investment Management, Tom speaking." She heard him say.

"Hi Tom, its Haley." Haley greeted him, sighing slightly at the way his voice didn't make her heart race... Nathan's always managed to.

"Hi Haley, how's it going?" Tom asked politely.

"Fine thanks." Haley said, hearing the familiar sound of his keyboard being tapped on. Nathan always paid attention to her when she talked to him. She mentally scalded herself for comparing them again, she knew that she had made her decision; she needed to stop doing that. "I was just wondering if you wanted to head out for some lunch in a bit?" Haley asked hopefully. She wanted to spend some time with him; she needed to get out of the office, for her thoughts of Nathan were driving her mad.

"Haley, I'm really sorry but I can't today, I have back to back meetings all afternoon, the first one is in literally five minutes." Tom answered.

"Oh." Haley said disappointedly.

"Haley, I'm sorry. Another time this week okay?" Tom suggested, trying to make up for the fact that he couldn't go with her today.

Haley sighed. "Sure. Have a good day." Haley said dejectedly and then she hung up the phone. She didn't think he had been lying to her; he hadn't used any pet names, which was her usual tell-tale sign if he was telling lies. But she had needed to see him, she wanted to see him and he had stupid meetings. She banged her fist on her desk in frustration, just as Lucas came out of his office.

"Haley, what's wrong?" Lucas asked, seeing her bash her fist down on the desk, which was completely out of character for her.

Haley blushed instantly, she was completely embarrassed. "Oh... erm... it's nothing." Haley said sheepishly.

"I bet the poor desk doesn't think it was nothing!" Lucas teased.

Haley went an even deeper shade of red, she could feel it, but she didn't know what to say, so kept her mouth shut.

Lucas chuckled at her before speaking to her. "You gave me the wrong presentation; this was the one we used for the Chicago property." Lucas said as he placed the presentation Haley had given him on her desk so she could see that it was the wrong one.

"Oh shit!" Haley said, before bringing her hand up to cover her mouth. She couldn't believe that she had just sworn in front of her boss.

Lucas laughed out loud this time.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Haley said, while getting completely flustered, grabbing the wrong presentation that she had printed out in error and leant over to throw it in the bin, however, in doing so her wheelie chair moved sharply which nearly caused Haley to fall to the floor, she only managed to save herself by grabbing onto the desk and holding on for dear life.

"Haley are you okay?" Lucas asked, watching her struggle at putting some paper in the bin. Haley was usually so calm and collected, so proficient, but today she was all over the place.

"I'm fine, honestly." Haley said breathlessly, once she had managed to get her seat back to her desk and sat down, before finding the correct presentation and printing it out for Lucas, wanting nothing more than the ground to open up and swallow her whole, either that or Lucas to just go away, he was making her nervous.

Lucas knew she wasn't fine though, and decided to be a good boss. "Have you got any lunch plans?" Lucas asked.

_Not now Tom won't come and see me. _Haley thought bitterly to herself. "No." She answered.

"Well you have now, come on Haley." Lucas said as he walked into his office, putting the presentation he picked up from the printer on the way on his desk, and grabbed his coat. When he walked back out of his office, Haley was still sat at her desk. "Come on Haley, we're going to get something to eat."

"Oh. Thanks Lucas!" Haley said brightly, at least someone wanted to spend some time with her today, even if it was her boss!

~*~

Lucas sat across from Haley at one of the trendy restaurants in the finance district, watching her closely. He had wanted to speak with her about the apartment, and let her know that Nathan, her boss, ultimate owner of Scott Investment Management, was going to be her landlord too, but first he wanted to make sure that everything was okay with her. The waiter had just brought out their pasta dishes and Haley and Luke began to tuck into the delicious food, when he decided to ask her again. "Haley, are you sure everything is okay?" Lucas asked, concerned with Haley and the haphazardness of his usually so efficient secretary.

"Honestly, I'm fine." Haley said, trying to deflect Lucas away from the truth, which was she was far from fine, in fact, she was so far from fine, she couldn't remember what fine felt like.

Lucas looked at her suspiciously. "Haley, I know that everything's not okay. You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Lucas asked, hoping that she was going to open up to him, see if there was some way he could help her, for he knew she had something big on her mind.

Haley sighed and put her fork down, finding her appetite had gone. She was starting to think about Nathan again. She knew she couldn't tell Lucas about Nathan, lord knows what he would think, and plus he knew who Tom was, he was the only one who knew that Tom worked for the same company as her, so if she told him there was a chance that Tom could find out and that was the last thing she needed to happen. Peyton knew that there was a Tom but she didn't know he worked for Scott Investment Management too. "I'm just having some problems with Tom." Haley answered. It wasn't a lie, despite giving things another go, they still had problems, and they still had a lot of stuff that they needed to work out.

"What kind of problems?" Lucas asked, probing for more information than that.

Haley laughed. "You don't want me to get into them Lucas, believe me, we'd still be sitting here next week if I started to tell you what was wrong with us." Haley sighed and raked her fingers through her hair, hoping to rake out some of the problems too, either that or find some much needed solutions.

Lucas watched Haley, he could see how stressed she was and he wanted to help her out. He was just about to open his mouth and tell Haley about the apartment, and who owned it, when he thought better of it. Haley didn't need that additional stress; she had enough on her plate it seemed. So he decided to keep quiet and have a chat with his brother later on. "Are you looking forward to move in day?" Lucas asked, hoping Haley would be excited about it, and also hoped that it would take her mind off her problems with Tom for a while.

Haley smiled at Luke. "Yeah I am, it's going to be so nice living much closer to work."

"Well the apartment is absolutely amazing; you're going to love it." Lucas said as he whipped out his credit card and paid for the lunch.

"Good." Haley said as she watched Lucas pay for lunch. "Thanks for that Lucas." Haley said as she put her coat back on and both of them headed back to the office. Haley was feeling slightly better after getting some food inside of her, and for the first time that day, Nathan hadn't been in her thoughts for a while, although she was sure that wasn't going to last.

~*~

Nathan hadn't been able to focus all day, it was a joke, he may as well have just stayed in his suite at the hotel and slept, that was how much he had accomplished today. And it was all because of Haley. He couldn't help but feel bitter and angry at the whole situation, Haley and her boyfriend carried on as they were, Haley was trapped in an unhappy relationship, Nathan was pissed off at the fact that he hadn't got the girl he wanted to be with, and Haley's boyfriend, well if she was unhappy, he had to be too, right? So who the hell won in all this? As far as Nathan could see they were all losers. What a fucking sorry state of affairs. He'd had his fists clenched up in balls the whole day, unable to shake the tension that was running through him. He was going to hit the gym tonight; he desperately needed the punch bag they had to offer. He looked down at his clock on his computer and saw that it was already eight o'clock in the evening and decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel, when his phone rang.

"Scott Investment Management, Nathan speaking." Nathan said as he picked up the ringing phone.

"Nate, its Luke." Lucas responded to his brother's greeting.

"How's it going? I was just about to leave." Nathan said, trying to not so subtly let Lucas know that he wasn't in the mood for a long drawn out chat.

"Don't worry; I'm planning on making a move too, so I won't keep you on the phone for too long." Lucas said, laughing at his brother's nudge that he wanted to get off the phone.

"Okay, what is it?" Nathan asked, closing his computer down in the process.

Lucas took a deep breath before speaking. "Your apartment."

"Mmm." Nathan said sceptically, wondering where this conversation was going, already not liking the direction it was taking, or the tone of Lucas' voice, like he was scared of what Nathan was going to say next, which meant he had done something that was highly likely to piss him off, which was just what Nathan didn't need right now.

"I need you to stay away from it for a while." Lucas said quickly.

Nathan's eyes grew wide. "What?"

"I need you to stay away from your apartment for a while." Lucas asked, speaking a little slower than he had before.

"Why?" Nathan asked, irritated at the fact that he seemed to be being chucked out of his city crash pad.

"What difference does it make Nathan? You hardly ever use it anyway, you have your mansion just outside of the city, and you'll just have to use that for a bit instead." Lucas asked, wondering why Nathan was so agitated at the situation.

"Well it's nice to have the option to stay in the city when I need to." Nathan huffed.

"I'm sure you can do without it for a while." Lucas said.

"Why can't I use it anyway?" Nathan asked, realising that he hadn't received an answer to his question he had asked Luke.

"Erm...." Lucas said, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse for the fact that he hadn't told Haley who owned the apartment yet.

Nathan instantly worked it out. "You haven't told her, have you?" Nathan questioned Lucas incredulously.

"No, not exactly." Lucas stammered out.

"What do you mean, not exactly? Either you have told her or you haven't Luke. And I'm guessing you haven't, right?" Nathan shouted. Lucas really wasn't helping the level of frustration he was feeling today, in fact, he was only adding to it. That punch bag was really going to come in handy once he got down to the gym.

"No I haven't." Lucas said quietly.

"Lucas! I told you to tell her!" Nathan shouted again.

"I know!" Lucas shouted back. "There is a reason why I didn't tell her though. She's been a little stressed out lately and I didn't want to add to her stress levels by piling the fact that her boss was going to be her landlord." Lucas explained.

Nathan sighed. "I can't believe you haven't told her Luke."

"All you need to do is stay away for a while until she settles in and then I'll tell her, okay? It shouldn't affect you that much anyway, right?" Lucas tried to provide the silver lining through the very dark, looming cloud.

"Fine." Nathan agreed, it wasn't like he had much of a choice anyway, he'd offered his apartment to Lucas' secretary and he couldn't go back on that now, not when she was moving in on Saturday.

"Thanks so much Nate, you're a lifesaver." Lucas said.

"What's her name anyway?" Nathan asked, curious as to what his new tenant was called.

"Haley." Lucas answered.

Nathan laughed bitterly as he thought of his Haley again and what she had done to him that morning. That's just what he needed... another Haley in his life! Hopefully this one wouldn't cause as much trouble...

~*~

Haley was still sitting at her desk mulling over her day when Lucas left the office. She didn't know what to do. She knew that she had hurt Nathan, more that she had wanted to and that made her feel absolutely terrible. And the way they had left things didn't sit well with her at all. She couldn't carry on this way tomorrow, with Nathan clogging her every thought, she had done absolutely nothing at work today and she knew she wouldn't get away with that for long. She took a deep breath and decided to call Nathan's mobile, hoping that he would pick up and speak to her.

She lifted up her work phone and dialled the number from her mobile and waited for him to answer, but after a couple of rings, it went to voicemail. Haley thought about leaving a message but didn't have a clue what she would say, so hung up before the tone sounded, she didn't feel like leaving a rambling message, and she wasn't sure he would listen to it anyway.

She rested her chin in hands and pondered what to do next. She realised that she needed to speak to him tonight, she wouldn't be able to sleep again if she didn't and then Nathan would be in her thoughts for the whole of tomorrow too, which she didn't want. She decided to chance it and go back to the suite he had been staying in when he had invited her to the hotel, praying that he was still there. She closed down her computer and rushed out of the office, hailing herself a cab once she got onto the street.

~*~

Nathan grunted as he smashed his fist into the punch bag for what felt like the thousandth time that night. He knew his arm was hurting from the exercise but he couldn't feel it, so he kept on punching. He must have looked like a madman and given the looks some of the people in the gym had been giving him while he was punching away, he knew he should calm down a little, but he had so much anger and frustration inside of him, this was the only way he was able to let it all out, well, it was either punch the punch bag, or punch a person, and luckily for that person, the punch bag had won.

After an hour of hitting the bag, Nathan stopped and held the punch bag with both of his gloved hands, stretching his legs out, panting for breath. He could have gone on all night if he had wanted too, but he was tired, emotionally and physically, and so decided to head back up to his suite and try to rest, he desperately needed some sleep, he needed to be on the ball tomorrow, especially as today had been a complete waste of time.

~*~

Haley walked into the hotel and headed straight for the elevators. She knew that Nathan's suite was on the top floor, so she pressed the button and waited impatiently for the elevator to get to the top floor. She checked her appearance over in the mirrors, and sighed at what she saw, she looked a complete mess, she looked tired, her hair was all over the place, and her makeup was all worn off from the day she'd just had. But she didn't care how she looked, it would have to do, she had to see Nathan and find out where they both stood.

After what felt like an hour, the elevator doors opened on the top floor of the hotel, and Haley made her way down the corridor, vaguely remembering the route she and Nathan had taken a couple of nights ago. She got to the door which she was sure was his and knocked on it, waiting for Nathan to open the door. She waited for about thirty seconds before trying again, this time knocking a little louder. She knocked again when there was no answer. She wasn't even sure if he was still staying here, for all she knew she could be knocking on either an empty room, or a complete stranger's room. But this was the only place she knew he could possibly be so she had to try.

She was just about to turn and walk away when she heard the elevator doors opening at the end of the corridor. She turned to look at who had just walked out of the elevator and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Nathan walk down the corridor towards his suite.

Nathan grabbed his key card from his pocket and used the towel he had wrapped around his neck to ruffle his hair which he had just washed in the shower at the gym as he walked along the corridor to his suite. He was about half way down the corridor when he stopped towelling his hair and noticed that there was someone standing out in the corridor. He looked up to see who it was and his eyes were met with the beautiful brown eyes that belonged to Haley. He let his gaze drift quickly over her body; she still took his breath away. But however much he was blown away by her beauty; he couldn't help the irritation that ran through him at her turning up like this, no matter how much he wanted to see her, he was still angry and hurt at what she had done that morning.

Haley watched Nathan walk towards her. He looked so gorgeous, obviously having just stepped out of the shower, he had a white sleeveless t-shirt on and some shorts. She loved the way his hair was still slightly wet, spiking up in all directions, it looked good on him. She smiled cautiously at him, but noticed that he didn't return it, so she instantly looked away from him. It was clear that he didn't want her here.

"What are you doing here Haley?" Nathan asked as he walked around her and placed his key card in the door, opening it when the green light went on.

Haley turned around again so she was facing him. "I wanted to talk to you."

Nathan walked into his suite, threw his towel from around his neck onto the chair and leant against the door. "I don't really think there is anything left to say Hales." Nathan said coldly, refusing to meet her gaze, for he knew if he took one look into her eyes, he would get swept away and walls he currently had up against her would come tumbling down.

Nathan's words felt like a slap in the face for Haley. "I think there is stuff to talk about Nathan." Haley tired to sound confident but she wasn't sure her voice portrayed that, she sounded scared almost.

Nathan leant his head back. "Have you changed your mind?" He asked.

"No..." Haley said quietly.

"Then I don't think we have anything to say to each other." Nathan said as he moved away from the door and began to close it.

Haley could see the door being closed in her face and knew she had to do something; she couldn't leave things the way they were, not like this. She held out her hand and stopped the door from closing any further. "Nathan, wait." Haley said, commanding his attention.

Nathan sighed in frustration. "What is it Haley?" Nathan almost shouted.

"Can I please come in?" Haley asked tentatively, unsure of whether he would let her enter his room.

Nathan made the mistake of looking down at her. He could see in her eyes the pleading for him to listen and he felt his resolve weaken slightly. He opened the door wide again and left it open, walking into his suite, wandering straight to the kitchen to grab himself a drink of scotch. He didn't want to offer Haley one; he didn't want to make her feel comfortable. He wanted her to say what she needed to say and then leave.

Haley walked timidly into the suite, and closed the door behind her. She noticed Nathan's hostility towards her; it was pretty hard to miss. She stood in front of the now closed door and started to fiddle with her hands and bite down on her lip, for she didn't know what else to do.

Nathan had poured himself his scotch and took a sip, eyeing Haley suspiciously over the rim of the glass, before placing it back down on the table. "So what do you want to talk about?" Nathan asked, wanting to get right to the point, not wanting to dance around this any longer than was needed.

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay." Haley said, barely above a whisper.

Nathan scoffed. "Oh yeah, I'm fine." Nathan said sarcastically.

"Nathan, please." Haley pleaded with him to not make this any more awkward than it already was.

"What do you want from me Haley?" Nathan asked, moving out of the kitchen area, standing opposite her.

"I want us to be friends still; I don't want to ruin what we had." Haley said honestly.

Nathan didn't say anything for a while, he was stewing over her words, over her actions this morning and over her actions on the night they had spent together. Their kiss that evening had stayed with him, he felt the craving and desire she had for him in that kiss, so he knew she had some sort of feelings for him. He didn't understand what she had going on with her boyfriend, why it meant more to her than what could be between them. "What does he have, Haley?" Nathan asked, desperate to understand.

"What do you mean?" Haley asked, she didn't understand what he meant with this question, why he was asking her that when she had just asked if they could be friends.

"Your boyfriend. What does he have that's making you stay with him?" Nathan asked again.

Haley shuffled uncomfortably from one foot to the other. She didn't want to be discussing Tom with Nathan. "Nathan, I've been with him for two years..." Haley started but was interrupted.

"Haley, that's not a reason to stay with someone, that sounds like an excuse. I'm asking you what he has?" Nathan interrupted. He was sick of her using the time that they had been together as a reason to stay with him, it doesn't matter if its ten years or two months, it's the happiness that counts, and Haley wasn't happy, he knew it and so did she.

"Nathan, I don't want to talk about this now." Haley said quietly, biting down on her lip.

Nathan walked closer to her, still keeping some distance between them, but closing the gap a little. "What was worth saving Hales?" He asked softly.

Haley looked down at the floor. She knew that Nathan was asking her the same question he had asked her when she had stayed in his suite a couple of nights ago, and she hadn't given him an answer then and she wasn't going to give him one now, because she honestly didn't know what she was saving, if it was worth her time, she just knew she had to give things another try with Tom.

Nathan waited for her answer, but realised once again that she wasn't going to answer him. He walked closer to her and gently placed his hand underneath her chin, slowly lifting her head so she was forced to meet his gaze. He took a deep breath and started speaking. "Haley, I don't want to see you unhappy, I want to see you smile, I want to see that beautiful smile on your face every single day. I want to see you be you. I don't like what your boyfriend does to you, the person he turns you into because that unhappy girl is not the Haley that I know you could be. And you know that too, don't you?" Nathan asked, searching her eyes for the truth.

Haley listened to what Nathan was saying to her, gazing into his eyes. When he asked her the question at the end of his speech, Haley looked down at the floor before lifting her gaze again, and bit down on her lip nervously. He was speaking the truth, she knew it, and he knew it. She slowly nodded her head, it wasn't worth denying it.

Nathan breathed a silent sigh of relief that she had agreed with him, and so decided to be brave and continue. "And I think I could make you happy Haley. I really do."

Haley was surprised that he had been so honest with her. She wasn't expecting him to be, not with the way things had been left between them that morning, she was expecting unfriendliness, unkindness, so his mood completely knocked her off kilter. She looked deeply into his eyes, unsure of how to react to what he had said, and felt scared by the part of her that agreed with him, that he could make her extremely happy, more happy than she could hope to be. But then there was that other part of her, the part that wanted her to be faithful to her relationship with Tom, the part of her that wanted her current relationship to work. She was absolutely torn again, unable to understand what she was meant to do in this situation, this had never happened to her before. As she looked into Nathan's eyes, she could see the honesty and hope that was so evident in him, the promise that he would make her happy. That caught her off guard a little, and so before she knew what her body was doing, before her brain could comprehend what she was doing, she had stepped forward and brought her body in close to Nathan's and had lent up and kissed him.

Nathan was a little shocked that Haley had kissed him but he felt elated all the same and he definitely wasn't going to stop it. He wrapped his arms around her waist and brought her in closer and kissed her back, running his tongue slowly over her lips, asking for entry into her mouth, needing to deepen the kiss, needing to make this moment last for as long as possible, not ever wanting it to end, for when he was kissing Haley, nothing else mattered.

Haley felt Nathan's tongue on her lips and opened her mouth willingly, wanting to feel more connected to him. She felt his tongue move into her mouth and the second it connected with hers, she heard Nathan moan sexily into her mouth. Haley wrapped her hands around Nathan's neck and started to scratch lightly over his skin with her fingernails, feeling Nathan's tongue tangle with her own and start to explore her mouth. The kiss was slow, sensual and full of promise.

Nathan began to walk backwards, taking Haley further into his suite towards the living room area, his mouth never leaving hers, his tongue still tangled in her mouth. As he was walking, he brought his hands around to the front of Haley's coat and started to unbuckle the belt and once that was undone, he started to unbutton the buttons, pulling it off her in the process and throwing it to the floor. He felt his legs hit the side of the couch and pulled away from her, sitting himself down in the middle of it, before reaching up and pulling Haley down on top of his lap, capturing her lips in a searing kiss as Haley started to sit on top of him.

Haley knelt on either side of Nathan's legs, sitting herself in his lap, her mouth moving quickly over his, her hands cupping the sides of his face before moving into his hair, tangling her fingers in his locks. She felt him break away from the kiss and leave feather light kisses on her lips, both of them taking the opportunity to catch some much needed breath.

Nathan couldn't get enough of her, she smelt, tasted, and looked amazing, in fact, everything about her was amazing. "You're so gorgeous Haley." Nathan said in between the kisses he left on her face, his hands roaming over her stunning body.

Haley felt Nathan's kisses move down her jaw to her ear, where he started nibbling on her earlobe, biting down playfully on it, causing Haley to let out a giggle, as her hands moved up his arms, flowing over the contours of his muscles, up towards his shoulders and then ran them down his toned chest. He felt amazing.

Nathan smiled at the laugh that had escaped Haley's lips and moved his mouth down from her ear, leaving kisses just below her ear on her neck. He then moved his mouth over to the front of her neck, sucking softly on her skin, and then grazing his teeth along her neck, before leaving hot, wet kisses down towards the collar of the shirt she was wearing. He brought his hands up from her waist and started to unbutton her shirt, kissing his way down her shoulder bones as more of her delicious skin was revealed, unable to stop his eyes from devouring her hot, sexy body, his eyes growing wider in appreciation with every button that was being undone. Once he had fully unbuttoned the shirt, he felt Haley's hands lift his head back up towards hers, her lips connecting with his, her tongue forcing its way into his mouth.

Nathan's breathing was quickening again and he couldn't control his hands, they were all over her body, and he couldn't stop his eyes from dropping to her breasts, watching them rise and fall as she breathed in and out. He found his hands move to trace the curve of her breasts that spilled out over her black lacy bra, he was itching to touch her all over, he wanted to feel all of her. His hands then dropped to her stomach and snaked their way around the back of her shirt which was hanging on her loosely and he moved his hand up her back towards her bra strap, wanting to free her full breasts from their constraints. He undid the clasp and instantly moved his hands around to the front of her stomach again, before grazing his fingers lightly up her skin towards her breasts. Once he found the edge of her bra, he pulled it down from her breasts and covered them with his hands and begun to play with her nipples, running them in between his thumb and fingers, causing them to harden.

Haley moaned in pleasure as Nathan's hands tugged on her nipples, she couldn't think of anything other than the need to be with him, be closer to him. She broke away from his kiss and kissed her way down his neck, nipping and biting on his skin, before she felt Nathan pull her away as his hands moved up to her shoulders, and move down her arms, bringing her shirt with her, which once off her body was tossed onto the floor, her bra soon following.

Nathan took this opportunity to admire her amazing body. "You're so beautiful Haley." Nathan said while looking in her eyes, his fingers coming up to trace over her full, red lips.

Haley blushed, she couldn't help it. She watched as Nathan continued to move his fingers over her lips, and she didn't know why but her breathing quickened in pace, there was something about that action that was so sensual.

Nathan watched the blush creep across her cheeks and then moved one of his hands to her cheek, his fingers starting to trace over her cheekbones, as he leant in to place a soft, slow kiss on her lips, the other hand moving down to her legs, running up her thigh and underneath her skirt.

Haley could feel the goose bumps begin to form on her skin where Nathan's hand was. She could feel him moving up underneath her skirt, pushing it up her body as his hand moved closer and closer to her centre. She gasped when she felt him run a finger along her slit and up towards her clit, moaning out loud when she felt his finger run over her clit. She needed to concentrate on something else, for her mind was being clouded by him and what he was doing, and she was so turned on in that moment, she was sure she would have an instant orgasm if his finger decided to linger on her clit for one more second than it had. She moved her hands from his neck and found the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it up over his head, breaking away from his kiss in the process, and chucking it to the floor once it had been removed. She knew she needed him, she needed him inside of her right now, so she decided to take the initiative and balanced herself on her knees and lifted herself off his lap, tugging on the waistband of his shorts as she left feather light kisses on his lips.

Nathan knew exactly what Haley wanted, he had felt how wet she was through her panties and he wanted her too, the need to be inside of her was all consuming. He lifted himself off the couch and pulled his shorts and boxers down to his ankles, and then sat back down on the couch.

Haley rested her arms on his strong shoulders and kissed him forcefully on the mouth. She felt Nathan try to take her panties off her, but she needed him now, she couldn't wait. She reached down with both hands, brushing his aside, taking his hard cock in one and moving her panties to the side with the other, before lowering herself on top of him, her skirt rumpled at her waist, her hands moving back up over his muscular stomach and chest, tracing the contours of his body.

Nathan moaned out as he felt her sink on top of him, his cock entering her tightness, the feeling of being inside of her one of complete wholeness. He felt connected to her, his eyes found hers and he could see the desire and lust so clearly evident in them, the want and need for him so clearly shown. He gripped onto her waist and started to help her build a steady rhythm, his gaze moving over her whole body, enjoying the feeling of just being with her.

Haley could feel the pleasure building up inside of her fast. She quickened the pace but still made sure she took as much of him as she could get. She could feel him hitting her in all the right places, and couldn't help moaning out his name breathlessly.

The sound of his name falling from her lips in a moment like this was just as amazing as Nathan had dreamed it would be. This truly was one of his fantasies coming to life. He knew he wouldn't be able to last much longer, and could also hear that Haley was close too. He began to thrust his hips up, meeting her, matching her every move.

Haley couldn't take it much more, she needed to let go. Her hands moved to Nathan's shoulder and she gripped on tight, needing to hold onto something as the pleasure overcame her, her body pulsating as her orgasm rocked right through her, and she was unable to stop the cries of pleasure coming from her mouth.

Nathan felt Haley's walls tighten around his cock as the waves of Haley's orgasm ran through her body, and that was his undoing as his own orgasm overcame him and he spilled his load deep inside of her.

Once Haley had calmed down and her breathing had returned to a near normal state, she closed her eyes as she rested with him still inside of her, she wasn't ready to let him go just yet. She tried to breathe deeply, and once heart rate had come down, she didn't know what was happening but alarm bells went ringing off in her head, she couldn't stop them, in fact, they were getting louder. The only thought that was running through her mind was Tom, and the fact that she had betrayed him. She didn't feel dirty, she had that familiar guilt running through her, but she had been expecting that. But she felt disappointed too, in herself and at what she had done, ashamed almost. She knew she had to get away; she couldn't let stay with Nathan, it was wrong, she had cheated on Tom and she couldn't do that, she couldn't stay with Nathan and pretend that everything was okay when it so clearly wasn't. She lifted herself off him quickly and stood up, ignoring Nathan's protests and picked her bra and shirt up off the floor and put her shirt on. She then grabbed her coat and pulled it on her, doing it up quickly, before walking to the door.

Nathan watched as Haley recoiled away from him and couldn't help groaning out in frustration. He knew her conscience was playing games with her and he was pissed off for it. "Haley, please don't go, don't do this." Nathan pleaded with her to stay.

Haley turned to look at him as she did up the buttons and belt of her jacket, and as she looked at him, the feeling of shame only grew inside of her. "I'm sorry Nathan, that shouldn't have happened." Haley said as she shook her head, her hands shaking which was making doing her coat up that much harder than it needed to be.

Nathan could see her slipping away from him, he was angry again, angry that they had just had sex, moved a couple of steps forward in their relationship and now she was now pulling away from him, regretting it, when he thought it was the right thing for her to be doing. He didn't want to be a part of her regrets. As far as he was concerned, the only thing that Haley should be regretting was all the time she was spending with her boyfriend when she could be much happier with someone else. "Haley don't go." Nathan almost commanded, he needed to rake back some of the control in this situation, at the moment, Haley had all the cards, and Nathan hated the hand she had dealt him.

"Nathan I have to go." Haley said shakily. "I'm sorry." She turned away from him and walked out of his suite, running to the elevator and pressing the button until it had arrived, needing to get away, needing some fresh air. She rushed out through the lobby and felt the harsh night air hit her skin, and she finally felt like she could breathe.

~*~

The next morning, Haley waited in Starbucks for Nathan to come in for his morning espresso. Every time she heard the door open, she lifted her head hopefully, only to be disappointed when every single person that entered the shop wasn't Nathan. She was earlier than she usually was when she turned up to meet Nathan and she had expected him to be there, she wanted to apologise for throwing herself at him last night, it wasn't fair to him. She knew he was pissed off and she needed to make him understand how sorry she was. But he never showed.

~*~

The following morning, Nathan was waiting outside Starbucks, waiting for it to open. Once it had opened, he walked inside and ordered three espresso shots to go, not wanting to drink them inside as he didn't want to see Haley, he was too angry at her to spend time with her, it was better for both of them if he avoided her. He didn't want to make her anymore miserable than she already was, and he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to control his emotions or his anger if he saw her right now. It was better for business this way too, he would be in work early, be able to give another three hours to the business that he otherwise would have spent chatting to Haley, he tried to provide for reasoning for his actions, because there was a huge part of him that longed to see her again, that longed to talk to her again, but he wouldn't betray himself, he had made a decision to not see her and he was going to stick to it, no matter how much it killed him to do so.

**AN – Oh dear!!! I'm sorry to leave it like that guys but if I wrote anymore then this chapter would have been about 15,000 words!!! Don't worry – I'm not going to make you guys wait too long for an update so keep a look out! And let me know what you thought of that by leaving me a review! Thanks x**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN – Hey guys ! Thank you all so much for the reviews of the last chapter! I am so pleased that so many of you like this story! Wowie and Mel – thanks so much for the reviews you left me, you guys don't have accounts so I couldn't respond to them personally.**

**I do want to apologise for how long it took me so long to update this story – for those of you who read Kiss The Rain, you will know that I have been on holiday to the States (it was very last minute, I booked the flight on Thursday and flew out on Friday) and I got back into London yesterday morning. I really hoped that I could start typing up this chapter on the plane home but I had a screaming baby next to me and I didn't really want to put my light on once they turned down the lights for fear of waking it up and having it scream and cry again once it was settled! But I managed to find some time today and I'm not so tired after a nice long sleep, so this should be better than if I had written it on the plane anyway – and it's quite long to make up for me being late with it!**

**I just wanted to say another big thanks to those of you who are reviewing – you have no idea how much it means to me when I get a review through on my e-mail, I am so grateful to all of you and you really do make the time it takes getting these chapters ready worthwhile and fill me with confidence and inspire me to find time to update as soon as I can, so please continue!**

**Also – I am starting a new job on Monday... I'm quite excited! Hopefully the hours won't be as bad as my old job but we shall see! **

**So here is the next chapter... I know a lot of you were wondering where this story is going to go next and what will happen to Nathan and Haley now, especially after the last chapter... well move in day is here... but will Nathan be there or will he listen to Lucas and stay away? Hope you all like it! x**

**Chapter Five**

Haley stood outside of her new home, staring into space. She knew that she should feel excited about this new chapter in her life, living in Manhattan had been something she had dreamed about for so long but the expense was always too much for her, well, until this opportunity had presented itself to her, but she couldn't bring herself to be that way at all, she had too many other thoughts swirling through her head. Her mind wasn't concentrating on anything but him; in fact he had been in her thoughts constantly since she had walked out on him after she had slept with him, which was something she wasn't sure she should have done at all, especially given the way she had been feeling since. It had been almost a week since she had last seen Nathan, and it was obvious that he was completely avoiding her. Haley had waited in Starbucks every morning that week, arriving half an hour before she usually did in an effort to see him, but he never showed. Haley sighed to herself in frustration for what had to be the millionth time that week. She really needed to talk to him, to explain what was going on, to tell him how sorry she was for letting things go that far between them, and most of all, how much she didn't regret doing that with him at all, which must have been the way it had appeared when she left him. Haley wasn't mad at Nathan, she was angry at herself for stringing him along. It wasn't fair to him at all. He should be with someone who was willing to commit to him, that was what he deserved, he didn't deserve to be treated the way that she had treated him.

"Haley, are you going to stand outside for the whole day or are you actually going to come inside and see your new home?" Lucas teased as he walked out of the front door to the building having just dropped off a couple of Haley's boxes upstairs in the apartment.

Haley blinked herself out of her daydream and turned to face Luke who had now walked to the back of the van they had hired ready to start carrying more of her boxes inside. "I'm sorry Luke, here, pass me one and I'll take it up." Haley said as she held her arms open, ready for Lucas to drop one of the incredibly heavy boxes into her waiting hands.

Lucas handed Haley one of the lighter boxes that he had picked up from her home a couple of hours ago. He had placed the light ones on the top so that they heavy boxes wouldn't crush them. "I had no idea that you had so much stuff Haley, I mean the place is furnished so what the hell have you got in these boxes?" Lucas grunted as he picked up one of the heavier ones and walked inside with her.

"Just stuff." Haley responded casually as she called the elevator. She laughed as she turned around and could see that Lucas was clearly struggling with the box he was carrying; maybe she did have too many clothes, she pondered to herself. She looked around her new building as she waited for the elevator to arrive, it was very elaborately decorated, and she could tell instantly that you had to be incredibly rich to live here.

The elevator arrived and Lucas inserted the key which unlocked the entry to the top floor. The elevator carried them up in silence and once it reached the apartment, Haley gasped out loud when she walked inside. She had no idea what she had been expecting when Lucas had told her about the penthouse that was available, she knew it would be nice, obviously, but she wasn't expecting this, not at all. The elevator opened up right in the hallway of the apartment, and the whole place just looked amazing. "No way!" Haley screeched out loud as she dropped the box on the floor and ran into what was now her new home, excitement completely taking over all her emotions.

Lucas laughed as he watched Haley run into each of the rooms, looking like a little girl. "You like it then?" He asked in a teasing tone as his eyes darted around the place trying to keep up with her movements.

"Are you kidding me?! What's not to like?!" Haley said breathlessly as she walked back out into the hall from the humungous kitchen she had found at the end of the hallway.

"Well I'm pleased you approve!" Lucas said as he followed Haley into the lounge and flopped himself down on one of the sofas, watching as Haley did the same.

Haley couldn't stop her eyes darting from left to right as she took in her new surroundings, the place was absolutely unbelievable. Sure it looked a little too much like a bachelor pad at the moment, but that was nothing that a couple of girly touches couldn't fix to make it feel a little more homely, which she hoped her landlord wouldn't mind her doing, she would have to check that one before she made any drastic changes. She was curious about her new roommate though, she knew from Lucas that he apparently didn't use the place much, which from looking at it seemed like a huge waste to Haley, but she wanted to know how often he would be here, so that she wouldn't get a huge surprise when he did show up, it would also be nice to know his name and what he looked like so she didn't start attacking him when she though he was an intruder or something. "So this roommate of yours..." Haley started.

"Don't worry; I don't think he will be using the place much for a while." Lucas interrupted quickly; this was exactly the topic of conversation that he wanted to avoid having with Haley, given that he still hadn't told her that his brother owned the place, and he wasn't about to do it right now, he had to find the right moment to spill that little secret to Haley, and right now was not the right time.

"What a waste!" Haley said as she looked at the open fireplace in the middle of the lounge. "He must have some serious cash if he just left this place empty for most of the time." Haley wondered out loud.

"Yeah you could say that..." Lucas said, not wanting the topic of Nathan continuing for more than it had to. "So have you picked out a bedroom yet Haley?"

Haley's eyes lit up again. "I have a choice?!"

Lucas laughed. "You do. It's a three bedroom place. There is one spare room on this floor, on the left hand side as you walk down the hallway from the elevator, and then two upstairs. One is Na," _Shit! _Lucas quickly corrected himself; he was just about to tell Haley that it was Nathan's bedroom which would totally give the whole lie away. "My friends, but the other one up there is spare too. Why don't we go and take a look at them and you can pick whichever one you prefer?" Lucas finished as he got up off the couch and waited for Haley to follow him.

"Sure." Haley replied as she followed Lucas out of the lounge and down the hallway to what was the downstairs bedroom. Haley walked inside and took in her surroundings. The bedroom was beautiful; it had a huge bed right in the middle and some furniture around the walls. She nodded her head as she scanned the room, it was more than okay, but she still wanted to see the other one too before she made a decision. They then walked upstairs, Haley noticed that one of the doors was shut, and she assumed that it was her new landlord's room. Opposite that door was the second bedroom that she had a choice of. She walked into it and instantly knew that this was the one she wanted. It was decorated in cream and felt warm and inviting. The bed was huge as well, just like the one downstairs. "I love this one!" Haley said as she turned to Lucas, unable to keep the smile off her face as she walked further inside, running her hand along the furniture that was placed around the room.

Lucas smiled at Haley, he had known that she would want this bedroom, it seemed more 'Haley' than the one downstairs, and plus, this room had perks that the other one didn't. "You haven't even seen the closet in here yet..." Lucas said as he walked over to one of the doors over on the other side of the room and held it open so that Haley could walk inside.

"Oh my god!" Haley screamed as she walked into the closet, which was bigger than her old room. "This is amazing!" She could already picture all her clothes hanging off the rails, her shoes displayed on the shoe rack... it was unbelievable, at her old place, she had to keep some of her clothes in piles on the floor for she had long run out of space, but there was no danger of that happening here, there was just simply too much room for even her to fill.

"I thought you would like that part!" Lucas said as he shook his head in amusement at Haley.

Haley laughed as she walked out and Lucas closed the door behind her and she flopped herself on the bed, noting how comfortable she already felt here. As she lay down on the bed and shut her eyes briefly, she pictured Nathan again. It was like he was permanently implanted in her mind, she would never be rid of the thought of him, not that she tried to banish any thoughts of him anyway, especially when he had that smirk he currently had on his face, it was too sexy for words. She sighed though as she remembered that he wasn't talking to her at the moment, and that she had caused all of this behaviour, that she was completely to blame for him acting this way.

Lucas put his hands in his pocket. He knew something was wrong with Haley, she had been so quiet on the ride down here from her house, usually she was so chatty but this week, she hadn't been herself. "Haley is everything okay?" He asked as he kicked the carpet with his foot, feeling slightly awkward about asking her, if she wanted to talk about it, she knew that she could come to him, he had already made that clear, but he wanted to make sure that she was fine, like she had kept telling him all week, even though he knew she was lying to him.

Haley sat herself up on the bed and avoided Lucas' eyes. "Of course I'm okay, everything's fine."

"It's not though is it?" Lucas sighed as he placed himself on the bed next to Haley. He hated how he kept prodding her all the time, but he did care about Haley, and this was more than her being his secretary, he thought of her as a friend, and he could see that she was distant, and he wanted to see if there was anything he could do to help her.

Haley screwed up her face. She really must be so easy to read. She had thought that she was doing quite a good job at pretending to be fine in front of Lucas this week, but it seemed she couldn't fool him. She still didn't know how to answer Lucas' statement. No everything wasn't fine, and he seemed to know that too. So there was no point in trying to deny it, he wouldn't believe her anyway. But she couldn't bring herself to tell him about Nathan, so she decided to be quiet and let Lucas come to his own conclusions about what was wrong with her, knowing that he would think it was something to do with Tom and she would let him think that, it was easier that way.

"How come Tom couldn't help you move in today?" Lucas asked, guessing that Haley was still having problems with Tom and that that was the reason why she had been distant the whole week.

"He had to work this weekend." Haley shrugged. She was slightly grateful that she was having issues with Tom at the moment as it meant that Lucas thought that her relationship was what was causing her to be like this, when only she really knew the truth, it was all because of Nathan. Tom had been a little bit better with her recently, but when things were so bad to begin with, a little effort still meant that there were huge, gaping holes in their relationship that needed a lot of work.

"He's been working a lot of late nights and weekends recently, hasn't he?" Lucas questioned, he wondered what the hell was going on in the Hedge Fund department that required Tom to be working this much overtime, it was ridiculous, he was never spending any time with Haley, he seemed to be spending all his time at work.

"I guess so." Haley said distantly, her mind drifting back to Nathan and wondering what he was up to at the moment. She really missed his company each morning, she missed spending time with him, she missed their pointless conversations, she missed the way he made her laugh, and she missed his smile. She hated the fact that he was avoiding her; she didn't want him to at all, she wanted to have him back in her life again.

Lucas sighed as he watched Haley's expression change again. She looked like she was remembering something; she had a sad smile on her face. Lucas instantly thought that she was missing Tom. "Do you want me to talk to Tom about how much time he has been spending at work?" Lucas asked, sensing that this was something that he could do to help.

Haley was jolted out of her thoughts as she heard what Lucas had just said. "No, no, there really isn't any need for you to do that Lucas. He's just trying to win a new client, I'm sure he'll be spending more time with me once the deal has been done." Haley smiled at Lucas and got up off the bed, wanting this conversation to be closed.

"If you're sure, it might help." Lucas offered one last time.

"Honestly, it's fine." Haley said as she walked out of her new bedroom to go and get some more boxes from the van, hoping that Lucas would drop the subject. Talking to Tom wouldn't make things any easier, Haley knew that. The only thing that would make this whole thing easier on her, for her to return to the 'normal' Haley would be for Nathan to stop avoiding her, but she wasn't sure if that would happen any time soon.

~*~

Nathan sat in his office, his three espresso shots on the side of his desk. This was becoming routine to him nowadays. He would get up literally at the crack of dawn and would wait outside Starbucks for it to open, order three espressos to go and then walk quickly to his office, consuming his drinks at his desk. It wasn't fun at all, in fact; he was finding it rather painful being away from Haley like this. He had found himself looking at the clock all morning, knowing that she would be walking into Starbucks between eight and nine, and it took every single ounce of willpower he had inside of him to keep his feet rooted at his desk, instead of wandering down the road to see her. She seemed to have this gravitational pull that called him to her, and he found it harder and harder each day to deny himself seeing her. But it had to be done. He couldn't be around her after what she did. He couldn't subject himself to her; he wouldn't be helping himself or her. She had made a decision to be with her boyfriend, and then he had slept with her. He should have stopped it, respected her decision, things between them should never had gone this far.

He heard a knock at his door. "Come in." Nathan shouted to whoever was outside.

"Good morning Nathan." Sharon said as she breezed her way into his office.

"Hi Sharon." Nathan smiled up at his secretary as she took a seat in front of his desk and he watched as she started sifting through the papers she had brought into his office.

"Okay, you have three meetings this morning, lunch has been booked with Mr Brent at one o'clock, and then you have meetings and a conference call in the afternoon." She then got to the last piece of paper she had in her hands and smiled. "And don't forget on Friday you have the black and white ball for the Children's hospital."

Nathan inwardly groaned. That was the last thing he needed. He tried to think up an excuse not to go but he knew he had to. As one of the leading companies in New York which donated money each year to the cause, he was always expected to go and have pictures taken with the Board at the hospital for them to use on their website and newsletter. And it was something he was truly passionate about, he just didn't think that he could stomach it, not at the moment.

Sharon smiled at Nathan. She knew how much he loved the hospital, he did so much for it, even when it seemed he didn't have another second free, he always found the time to help them, but when it came to the charity events, well, that wasn't something Nathan was all that keen on. "And you have a plus one invited too..." Sharon prodded.

Nathan groaned out loud this time. That was another thing he hated about these events. He was sure some people just used it to get the gossip on what was going on in each other's lives, who was dating who, who had just got divorced, how much money each person had... it was all pointless conversation to Nathan, yet he was expected to get involved in it, heaven forbid that he should turn up dateless.

Sharon laughed at Nathan's reaction. "Do you want me to call around and see if someone on the 'list' wants to come with you?" Sharon asked.

The 'list' that Sharon was referring to were past people that Nathan had taken to events like this. If they were pleasant enough company, and if Nathan enjoyed his time with them, they were added to the list so that he could call them to see if they wanted to go to any other event that he was expected to attend. Sure it may seem a little strange to have such a thing, but it meant that unpleasant company at these type of events was avoided, and given how much he loathed being at them anyway, at least he wouldn't be taking someone incredibly annoying who hung onto his arm the whole night. But that didn't matter for this event. He couldn't be bothered to bring anyone, and given his current mood, which he was sure would continue until he saw Haley again, he wouldn't be much company to anybody, so he may as well spare whoever would have been subjected to his moody behaviour. "No, I think I'll do this one alone. But could you book me into a room at the hotel it's at, I think I'll want to escape after a while." Nathan asked politely, as he downed his last espresso.

"Of course, no problem." Sharon smiled as she walked out of the office and shut the door behind her.

Nathan sighed as he opened up the agenda for the first meeting he had this morning. He looked down at the clock in the corner of his computer screen and saw that it read 8.37am. Haley would be in Starbucks right now, if she still went that is. After he had been avoiding her like this, he wasn't sure that she would even bother with him anymore.

~*~

The week had come and gone, and Haley found herself sitting at her desk on Friday. She had spent the entire week thinking about Nathan again. It was becoming a little too ridiculous; she really did think she was becoming utterly obsessed with him, which was crazy given that he was completely avoiding her. Haley had thought about calling him countless times, but she had no idea what the hell she would say, and it was clear from his behaviour that he didn't want to see or speak to her anyway, so what was the point in trying? Haley sighed and got back to typing the letter that Lucas needed to be sent out. She should have finished it about half an hour ago, but at the speed she was currently going, Lucas would be lucky if the letter was finished by the end of the day.

"Haley, have you managed to get that letter done yet?" Lucas asked as he hovered by her desk.

"Just about halfway through it." Haley lied. She had only written the first paragraph, but she was going to have to concentrate and type up the remaining part extremely quickly, she could do it, she could block Nathan from her thoughts for half an hour, she coached herself.

"Okay." Lucas said as he picked up some of his post that Haley had piled on her desk and started opening the letters, throwing the crap away, which eliminated most of the pile. He then placed the remaining post back down on the table, noticing the invitation that Haley had given him at the start of the week. He picked it up, remembering that he hadn't responded, even though he couldn't go. He looked back at Haley who was typing away ferociously. Her mood hadn't changed this week, even though she had moved in the apartment, and Lucas had been hoping that the apartment would help get Haley back to normal, her mood hadn't changed at all, if anything, she was even more distracted. He looked back down at the invitation which was still in his hands. "Haley, why don't you go to this event in my place?" Lucas said as he held the invitation out for her to look at.

Haley looked up from her typing; she was actually making progress through the letter now that Lucas was standing at her desk, and saw that he was holding out the invitation to the black and white ball. She hadn't been listening to what he had been saying to her, so she just assumed that he wanted her to respond to the invite for him. "Do you want me to let them know that you won't be going?" Haley asked as she took the invitation out of Lucas' hands and searched for the number she needed to call.

Lucas laughed. "No I was wondering if you wanted to go in my place." Lucas said. "I haven't let them know that I can't go, so you may as well go instead. You could bring Tom with you." Lucas suggested.

Haley looked down at the invitation. She pondered whether it was even worth asking Tom to go. She knew she could really do with a night out, she needed to occupy her mind with something other than Nathan, and a charity event would be fun. She smiled up at Lucas. "Are you sure you don't want to go?" Haley asked, just to make sure.

"I couldn't go anyway; Brooke has already made plans for us to go out for the night." Lucas explained why he couldn't go to the event.

"Well as long as you don't mind, I think I could do with a good night out." Haley said.

"I don't mind and I do agree, a night out is just what you need. But if I was you, I would turn up at about nine thirty to miss the meal, that's the boring part." Lucas advised.

Haley laughed. "Well thanks for the heads up Lucas!"

"No problem." Lucas said as he walked back into his office.

Haley looked down at the invite and found that she was quite excited. She had never been to one of these events before, but she knew that they were saved for New York's finest business men and women. She picked up her phone to call Tom, hoping that he would be able to come with her. She heard Tom pick up the phone.

"Hey Tom, it's me."

"Hi Haley, how's today going?" He asked.

"Fine, listen, Lucas has just given me his invitation to the Black and White ball for the children's hospital."

"Oh really?! That sounds great Haley." Tom said.

Haley was a little surprised at how keen Tom sounded to go with her, but she wasn't going to complain, some time alone with Tom was probably exactly what she needed, it might help fix some of their problems they seemed to be having recently, although Haley knew that she was probably just as much to blame for the problems they had been having the past couple of weeks. She had hardly spoken or seen Tom at all since she had slept with Nathan, mostly for fear of him knowing somehow, knowing that she had cheated on him. "The only thing is, is that it's tonight." Haley winced, hoping that he hadn't made any plans already.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry Haley but I'm not going to be able to go then. I'm still working on the Brent account and will be working late again tonight." Tom explained.

Haley sighed. She should have known that work would get in the way, it always seemed to.

Tom heard Haley's sigh. "I'm sorry Haley, I know me working all these hours can't be fun for you at all. I promise once the tender is over I will make it up to you okay?" Tom said.

"How much longer is this going to last?" Haley asked, fed up with this stupid account that was taking up every single second Tom had spare.

"Well the tender is in just over a month's time, so until then."

_And that will only last until another account comes along. _Haley thought to herself. It was pointless arguing with Tom about it though, he wanted to work, so she would let him, she would just go to the ball by herself. "Okay, well I'd better go; I've got a lot of work to do before I can leave."

"Okay, have fun tonight."

"I will."

"I'll call you tomorrow. Bye Haley." Tom said as he hung up the phone.

"Bye." Haley said as she replaced the phone back on the hook and got back to typing the letter. Just as initially suspected, Tom had other plans, that didn't involve her. Haley wasn't meaning to sound bitter; it just seemed that work literally was taking over his whole life at the moment. So much for them both enjoying a fun night out together...

~*~

Nathan shut down his computer. It was already eight o'clock, and he was going to miss the whole of the dinner if he didn't get a move on soon. He'd already had Sharon dry clean his tux and he had changed into it an hour ago with the intention of leaving, but he remembered that he needed to send an e-mail, which in turn lead to another twenty or so being sent before the weekend could begin for him. He finally turned off his monitor and changed his shoes before turning out the light in his office and walking down the corridor towards the elevators, making sure that he had the invitation in his pocket. He walked down the corridor and noticed that Tom's light was on in his office. Nathan assumed that he was the last one in tonight, it was eight o'clock on a Friday after all, and so he walked over to the office to turn the light off. He opened the door and was surprised to find Tom and his secretary Jade in his office, sat at his table.

"Nathan!" Tom said, welcoming Nathan into his office.

Nathan looked between them both with a shocked expression on his face. "Hi Tom, Jade. What are you both still doing here?"

"We are just working on the Brent tender." Tom explained. "I'm just running through some of the background information with Jade so she is up to speed when we start to get the presentation together."

"Oh." Nathan said, still shocked that Tom would still be at work at eight o'clock on a Friday night with his secretary. "Well don't stay too late."

"Have fun at the ball." Tom called out to Nathan as he walked out of his office.

Nathan turned and smiled at both Tom and Jade. He still didn't understand what she was still doing there, he could understand Tom's reasons, but Jade? That just didn't make sense, why couldn't Tom run through the information on Monday morning instead? However, Nathan soon forgot about the weird behaviour when he got in the elevator and thought about the night from hell which he had ahead of him, he really wasn't in the mood for this at all tonight.

~*~

Haley stepped out of her taxi and walked into The Plaza, heading towards the Grand Ballroom. She fidgeted with her dress, pulling it up as she walked. She hoped that she wasn't too overdressed, but she had no idea what she should be wearing to this sort of thing. She had taken Lucas' advice and was arriving at nine thirty, hoping that she had missed the dinner, and that the party would be well underway so that she could sneak in without people noticing her. She handed the invitation to the doorman and walked inside. The room completely took her breath away. It was such a grand room; the decoration was intricate and beautiful, and the simple monochrome colours didn't tamper with it at all. She was pleased to see that the party was in full swing, and so she stood in the back, leaning against one of the many pillars that surrounded the edge of the room. A waiter offered her a glass of champagne, and Haley took one, sipping it slowly as she looked around the room, seeing if she recognised anyone, even though she was sure that she wouldn't.

Nathan was locked in a conversation with one of the hospital board members, who was driving him mad with the rubbish he was talking about. He had obviously drunk far too much during dinner and from the two glasses of champagne that he held in his hands, it was obvious that he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Nathan decided to use the excuse that he needed to go to the toilet and left the man to find someone else to talk to for the rest of the night. Nathan walked hastily up to the bar, eager to get away from the boring old man, and ordered himself a scotch as he sat down on one of the stools. He was going to sneak out soon. He had given the charity about an hour and a half of his time, that was surely enough. They had taken enough pictures of him to fill their website and newsletter for the year. He downed the scotch, ordering himself another as soon as his glass was empty, and turned to face the ballroom, looking around at the people who were attending. He was just about to turn and pick up his new scotch that he had heard being delivered by the barman, when he nearly fell off the stool. He held onto the bar, just about keeping himself upright and looked over at where he had seen what he thought was Haley. He squinted through the crowds, and moved away from the bar a little so he could get a better view of her, leaning so that he could see past the people that partially blocked his view, and he swore his heart nearly leapt out of his chest when he confirmed that it was indeed her standing next to the pillar across the room from him.

She looked absolutely stunning, in fact, just looking at her was turning him on so much, that was the power that she held over him. Her strapless, tight fitting, white dress hugged her curves so perfectly, stopping at her knees, and the thin band of black fabric that ran just underneath her breasts complemented the black and white theme of the ball perfectly. She had to be the sexiest woman in the room, there was no competition as far as Nathan was concerned. His eyes wouldn't stop moving up and down her body, he was completely in awe of her. Anything that had happened between them before had been forgotten. The lust and craving he felt for her in that moment overruled any promises that he had made to himself. They didn't matter. All that mattered to him now was the need to touch her, to speak to her. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted anything.

He walked away from the bar, around the back of the ballroom, heading in her direction, his feet wouldn't walk anywhere else, and he knew it would be pointless to try to stop them from going in any other direction but towards Haley. He walked quickly, darting around people as he went, until he was standing just behind her. His eyes devoured her legs, her body, her shoulders and her neck, which were left exposed by the dress she was wearing and the fact that her hair was tied up in a twist, held in place by a clip. He closed the distance he had left between them, his heart beating so quickly, his breathing short and sharp just from being this close to her again. It had been too long; he shouldn't have denied himself of her, it was wrong to. He could smell the familiar smell of the sexy perfume she wore, which only added to his hunger for her as he moved forward and placed his hands on the top of her arms, leaning down to place a soft kiss on the side her neck.

Haley didn't even jump when she felt his hands land on her arms. She had heard his breathing, she had smelt him as he stood behind her and her body had instantly tensed up. She wasn't sure what he was going to do, was he going to shout at her? Was he still annoyed at her? Did he want her to leave? She had been preparing to explain herself to him, but she had been waiting for him to start talking, she was more than willing to let him make the first move, she was giving him the chance to walk away from her before she started talking to him. But when his lips landed ever so softly on her neck, she instantly relaxed, the tension melted off her so quickly, and she couldn't help the quiet moan that had escaped from her lips, he felt so good, she had missed him.

Nathan heard Haley moan as his lips touched her skin. He pulled away and leant back into her; leaving feather light kisses along her neck, past her ear and then down her shoulder. He couldn't help moaning himself at feeling her skin underneath his lips. He had stayed away from her for what felt like an eternity, and he couldn't even remember why he had now that he was kissing her again. He needed her, that much was clear from the way his body seemed to be drawn to her, from the way he now couldn't stop touching her, kissing her. He never wanted to be away from her again.

Haley literally felt like she was floating, she felt so relaxed and carefree, but at the same time, she could feel herself getting more and more turned on every time Nathan's lips touched her. He was now kissing the back of her neck and Haley was leaning her head forward, she couldn't even prop herself up, her whole body was turning to jelly. She felt Nathan's hands run down her arms and wrap around her stomach.

Nathan kissed his way along to the other side of Haley's neck, and worked his way up towards her ear. He started nibbling on Haley's earlobe and moved his hands from her stomach to the sides of her waist. "You look absolutely phenomenal tonight Haley." Nathan whispered in her ear, before he moved his mouth back to her neck, sucking and nibbling on her pulse point, running his tongue around it, eliciting another moan to escape from Haley's lips. He then grabbed a hold of her waist and spun her around and backed her up against the pillar, before he leaned his body in against her and crashed his lips down on top of hers, fuelled by the desire he held for her, unable to keep his lips from hers for a second longer.

Haley's hands instinctively wound around his neck, pulling his mouth closer to her, her hands tangling in his hair. She had missed his taste, the feel of his hands and mouth on her. She heard him groan as she slid her tongue into his mouth, and felt his hands run down her back. Soon, breath became necessary, and Haley pulled away from him, leaning her head back against the pillar as she tried desperately to catch her breath which was so erratic from the kiss they had just shared.

Nathan leaned down to take Haley's neck again. He was out of breath too, but he didn't care, he needed to feel her against him. He kissed his way up her neck and along her jaw, before kissing her mouth again softly. He pulled away and looked into her beautiful brown eyes.

Haley watched as Nathan looked intently at her, like he was searching for something. She could feel her blush sweep across her face and down her chest, but she couldn't hide the desire she held for him, it was too strong. She watched as his eyes moved to her cheek and down her body, before locking with hers again, and when Haley's eyes dropped to his mouth, she saw that incredible smirk sitting on his face, which made her want him even more.

Nathan didn't even ask when he grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the ballroom towards the elevators. He had seen from the look she had given him how much she wanted him too and that was all he needed to know. The elevator doors opened as soon as he pressed the button, and he pulled Haley inside, pressing the button to take them to his suite on the top floor. As the doors started closing, he pushed Haley back against the mirrored wall and pressed himself up against her, his lips seeking her own.

Haley felt Nathan's kiss land on her and she kissed him back with just as much desire as she felt pouring from him. She felt his hand run down her leg, and started pushing her tight dress up her body. He broke away from their kiss and started moving back down to her delicious neck, licking his way along it, before nipping and biting down on her smooth skin.

Haley gasped when she felt his teeth scrape along her neck. "God I missed you so much." She said breathlessly as his mouth sucked harshly on her skin.

Nathan pulled away as the elevator doors opened on the top floor of the hotel, and he lead Haley down the corridor towards his suite. He opened the door quickly and pulled her inside, pulling her back towards him in the process as the door shut behind them, his lips meeting hers as she crashed into his body. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip, asking for entry into her mouth, which she soon granted as she opened her mouth against his, allowing him to enter her mouth. His tongue met hers, his hands couldn't stay in one spot of her body, and he needed to feel her again. He walked them both further into the suite and navigated himself around the new surroundings; he hadn't been inside this room yet. He spotted the bedroom on the right, and walked them towards it. He moved his hands into her hair and released her hair from the clip that was holding it in place, and pulled away from her as he watched her beautiful hair fall down over her shoulders. He reached his hand up and tucked her hair behind her hair, staring into her eyes as he did so. "Every time I look at you I'm amazed at how beautiful you are." He murmured.

Haley wasn't sure if he was talking to her or to himself. She felt his hand run behind her ear as he spoke, his fingers tracing a path lightly down her shoulder. She lowered her head, blushing again at his words. That was something that he managed to do every time he complemented her. She felt his fingers run up neck and then force her chin to move upwards so her eyes connected with his blue ones.

He smiled softly at her, he would never grow tired of that soft colour that seeped into her skin when she was embarrassed and leaned down to take her mouth in a gentle kiss, before his hands moved up to the side of the dress, finding the zipper he had spotted from his earlier roaming of her body and pulled it down, easing the dress off her, and then stepping her out of it once it was on the floor, then pulling away from the kiss, his eyes appraising her body. He was unable to stop the smile spreading across his face as he took in the satin white strapless bra and panty set she was wearing, she looking nothing short of a goddess.

Haley watched as Nathan's gaze drifted over her. When his eyes met hers, she smiled at the darkened hue they had taken on, she could see all the desire he held for her from that look alone. Haley leaned up and took his tux jacket off him, throwing it to the floor, before leaning up to kiss his neck hungrily as her fingers started to unbutton his shirt quickly. Once she had undone all the buttons, she pushed the shirt off his body and kissed her way down his chest, her hands running everywhere her mouth wasn't. She held this hunger for him that consumed everything, her mind was completely clouded, right and wrong didn't even figure in any of the thoughts running through her head, and all that she knew was that she needed him. Her hands moved down to his belt and she made quick work of undoing it, before pulling his trousers off him, her mouth moving hot and wet over his chest.

Nathan felt Haley move back up to his neck, he took this opportunity to lower himself down and catch her mouth with his. His tongue forced its way into her mouth, tangling with her own as he picked her up off the floor with one hand, her strapless shoes being kicked off by her in the process as he laid her down softly on the bed, while using his free hand to hold his body up and keep his weight off her. As he was kissing her, he snaked a hand around her back and unclasped her bra, pulling it off her, his hand travelling slowly down to her right breast, his fingers tracing the curve of her breast, and then he moved his hand to trace around her nipple, which hardened at his touch.

Haley could feel her nipple being run in between his thumb and figure and moaned into his mouth when she felt him tug gently on it. Her hands were running down his muscular back, before moving back up to his neck, her nails raking along the skin at the nape of his neck. She felt his mouth pull away from hers and move down her neck, over her shoulder and then travel towards her breast. She leaned her head back against the pillows and arched her back when she felt his mouth cover her breast as his hand moved over to the other breast, beginning exactly the same ministrations as he had given her right one, as his teeth bit down gently onto her nipple and then released it, his tongue swirling around and over it.

Nathan's mouth wandered down her body, paying great attention to her slender stomach. He kissed his way around her belly button, his hands tracing her curves along the side of her body, before he moved his mouth over her panties and down her left leg. He heard Haley sigh as he began to leave soft kisses up the inside of her thigh.

Nathan's mouth was moving dangerously close to her centre, which was exactly where Haley wanted it. He hovered ever so close to the edge of her panties, but wouldn't move any further up her body. Haley felt his hands move from her waist to the edge of her panties, and he gripped the edge of them with both hands, before removing his mouth from her leg and pulling them down her legs, throwing them on the floor as he moved back on top of her, kissing her mouth again softly.

He felt Haley shiver as his hands gently traced the outline of her curves and down her legs, before he moved upwards on the inside of her thigh. He felt Haley's legs spread wider for him as one of his fingers moved up her slit. She felt so wet, so ready for him, and he could feel his cock tighten even more in his constrictive boxers as he felt her juices run over his fingers. He moved up towards her clit, but then dropped back quickly, thrusting three of his fingers easily into her and felt Haley gasp sharply in his mouth. He started pumping them in and out of her, building up a fast rhythm, crooking his fingers up at the end so that he would hit her spot each time he entered her.

Haley had to pull away from Nathan's mouth, she couldn't breathe. She licked her lips as she felt his pace quicken again. "Fuck!" She cried out as she arched her back up and moved her hand to her hair, pushing it away from her face. Her breathing was quick and sharp, she closed her eyes as the pleasure almost became too much for her to take.

Nathan leaned up from his position, taking much enjoyment from watching her facial expressions; the way she kept licking her lips with that tongue was so alluring and was turning him on so much. He leant down and took her nipple in his mouth again, they were far too tempting as he watched her chest rise and fall quickly with the pace of her breathing for him to ignore them.

Haley felt Nathan's teeth around her nipple and that combined with his fingers moving so expertly inside of her was just so overwhelming. "Nathan." She said in between her sharp breaths, her eyes still shut as the pleasure consumed her. She felt his tongue run over her nipple and moaned out loud.

"Hmmm?" Nathan asked as he continued tracing her nipple with his tongue, his fingers slowing down for a couple of seconds.

Haley was trying to concentrate on what she wanted to say to him, but the changing pace of his fingers had surprised her. She had just regained some of her composure, when the pace changed again, and she felt his fingers plunge harshly into her again. "Mmmmm." Haley moaned as she licked her now too dry lips with her tongue. "I..." She tried to remember what she was going to say but it wouldn't come to her. "I..."

Nathan pulled his mouth away from her breast and smiled as he saw her face, nothing was sexier to him that the look Haley had on her right now, she was lost completely in pleasure and Nathan couldn't help feel happy that it was him who was making her feel that way. But he wanted her to feel more of him, he needed to feel more of her, and he knew what she was trying to say to him. He withdrew his fingers from her and pulled his boxers down his legs, kicking them to the floor as he moved back over her, smiling again at the look she had in her eyes when she opened them to see what was going on. He grabbed his cock with one hand, holding his weight off her with the other, and ran it up and down her slit over her entrance, before plunging into her. They both groaned out loud and he started to build up his rhythm, moving in and out of her at a steady pace. He kissed her lightly on the mouth. "Is that what you wanted?" He asked.

"Mmmm." Was all Haley could manage to say. She was concentrating on Nathan's rhythm which was rapidly building up speed. She grabbed a hold on his ass with her hands, her nails digging into him as she met his thrusts by raising her hips up off the bed and pressing him down into her, she wanted as much of him as she could take, she wanted to feel him deep inside of her.

Nathan leant his head down and started to kiss her shoulder. He couldn't help the moans of pleasure escaping from his lips as he felt Haley push him deeper inside of her. His thrusts increased in pace again, he was pumping into her so ferociously, he was sure he must be hurting her, but her moaning didn't sound like he was hurting her at all, and so that only encouraged him.

Haley felt Nathan begin to raise himself up off her, and felt himself lift his knees up so he was higher than he had been. He grabbed one of her legs and lifted it up over his shoulder, his hands pulling her waist up higher as he started pumping inside of her again. The new angle was causing Nathan's cock to hit all the right spots inside of her, and she could feel the pleasure begin to build up.

Nathan looked down at Haley and watched as her breasts moved up and down in time with his thrusts, her eyes were closed, and her tongue had just run over her lips again. He groaned out, the hunger for her only building. She felt so perfect, it was like she had been made for him, and him only. "God you feel so fucking good." He moaned as he thrust into her even harder than he had been.

The pleasure was building and building and Haley needed to let go of it soon. She felt one of his hands reach down and start circling her clit. She couldn't take it anymore. She started moaning again, unable to stop herself.

Nathan could tell that Haley was close, and his own orgasm was starting to build too. He looked at her face and saw that her eyes were closed, but he wanted to see her. "Open your eyes." He ordered as he continued to move in and out of her.

Haley did as he asked, and fought to keep them open, they felt so heavy, the pleasure was completely taking over her body now. "Fuck!" Haley cried out as her back arched and her head leaned into the pillows as the waves of her orgasm overtook her body.

Nathan felt her walls contract around his cock, he felt the waves of pleasure run through her body as she let go. He watched as her eyes connected with his and never left his gaze. Her eyes were full of passion and lust and Nathan soon found himself giving into his own pleasure as his orgasm rocked through his body, while he spilled his load deep inside of her.

Once their breathing had calmed a little, Nathan moved out of her and leant down to place a soft kiss on her lips, before rolling off her, he needed to catch his breath which although calmer than it had been, was still uncontrollable.

Haley's heart was racing. That had been incredible, Nathan had made her feel things she wasn't sure she even knew that you could feel. Her body was still tingling from the orgasm that had raged through her. Her mind was clouded with complete and utter lust for Nathan, Tom didn't even feature in her thoughts for a second, and walking away from Nathan like she had done last time would be utterly impossible given the way she was feeling right now.

Nathan rolled over onto his side and smiled at Haley who had her eyes closed. He reached over and traced circles over her stomach, smiling as he she jumped at his touch, before relaxing again. He reached over to her hip that was furthest away from him and pulled her to him, turning her onto her side in the process so her back was flush against his chest, leaving a lingering kiss on her shoulder as he held on tight to her, for this time, he wasn't going to chance her walking out on him again, he wouldn't let her. This was where she belonged, with him, and no one else, he just needed her to realise that fact.

**AN – Okay guys, I know a lot of you were expecting Nathan to be at the apartment on move in day... but I have the whole reveal chapter kind of planned out in my head... and it's VERY messy! I can't wait to write it – literally I am so excited for it!**

**So what did you think of that chapter? How do you think Haley will respond to sleeping with Nathan this time, do you think she will freak out again? Let me know by dropping me a review and I hope you liked it! x**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN – Hey guys! Thank you all so much for the reviews of the last chapter, I was literally blown away by all of your wonderful comments – you are all so amazing! I think I replied to all the reviews that I could – but to abc123, Samantha, ckeat, j and maria – thank you for all taking the time to review the last chapter – you guys don't have accounts so I couldn't respond to your review so I wanted to thank you here!**

**So luckily I got my fiancé a new Guitar Hero game on Sunday so he is busy on that which means I can spend some time updating this chapter! :o) My first week at work went really well and I'm really enjoying it so that's good! But it snowed today and in typical UK fashion – no one can cope with the snow so I only went in for a half day today – which I am not complaining about and it meant that I was able to get this chapter out much sooner than I thought I would be able to! And it's a One Tree Hill day today so I hope you all enjoy the new episode!**

**Anyway... on with the story, I know most of you now think that Tom is cheating on Haley with Jade the secretary... well I'm not going to confirm or deny that just yet! So on with the next chapter... will Haley bolt on Nathan again???**

**Chapter Six **

Nathan could feel his body waking up ever so slowly but his eyes refused to wake up at the same rate as his mind was, instead they preferred to stay closed for as long as possible. As his brain started to make sense of where he was, for he knew that he wasn't in his own bed at home, memories of last night slowly came flooding back to him. He could remember going to the Ball straight from work, talking to the incredibly boring hospital Board member before using his excuse to leave his boring conversation, then heading off to the bar so that he could have the token drinks he felt he deserved after surviving the dinner and the incredibly dull company. He remembered being just about ready to start planning his escape route when he had spotted Haley across the room. He remembered the instantaneous pull he had felt towards her, it was like he couldn't have moved in any other direction even if he had wanted to, which of course he didn't, the only place he wanted to be was with Haley, he needed her, the craving for her was too strong for him to even think of trying to resist. And before he had known it, he was behind her, he could still smell her intoxicatingly sexy perfume this morning like he was still standing behind her in the Ballroom, and then without another thought, he had found that his mouth had made its way onto her neck. He shivered as he remembered the feeling of being connected to her again, completely forgetting all the reasons why he had been avoiding her, for denying his body such pleasure was something he now deemed completely and utterly inexcusable. He then saw images of him dragging her away from the party to the hotel room, and then what had happened next had to be some of the hottest sex he'd ever had, and being Nathan Scott, well he'd definitely had more than his fair share in that department, and no one had ever come close to being as amazing as Haley was last night.

He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he felt around the bed with his legs carefully, not wanting to accidently wake Haley, but he wanted to check which side of the bed he was on so that he knew where she was. He stretched his leg out and eventually found the edge of the bed on his left hand side, and given that he hadn't touched Haley, that must mean that she was on his right hand side. He rolled over onto the edge of his pillow and reached out with his hand so that he could touch her and pull her to him, wanting to feel her against him again, only his hand didn't touch another body, in fact his hand was now nearly almost fully extended and he still hadn't touched her. He started to panic and his eyes opened so quickly he was momentarily blinded by the morning light. He snapped his arm back which had been half way on the other side of the bed and rubbed his eyes with his hand before blinking several times, trying to get his eyes used to the bright room. Once his focus had returned, he looked to the other side of the bed and saw that there wasn't anyone beside him, and he was all alone in the bed.

He lifted his head off the pillow and looked around again, just wanting to make sure that he was definitely alone. Once he had double and triple checked the bed, he threw his head back onto the pillow and blew out a long breath in complete and utter frustration. She had bolted... again. He closed his eyes and kept them closed, not wanting to face the reality that she had left him again, and he didn't think he could cope with it. He thought back to his actions last night, deciding that he shouldn't have just marched up to her, kissed her and then dragged her up to the hotel room without barely saying anything to her, not after ignoring her for a week. How the hell did he honestly expect her to react after that? Of course she had left. Nathan rolled over again, dragging the covers up, burying himself underneath them, wanting to just forget about the whole thing, when he heard a knock at the door disturbing his wallowing.

~*~

Haley stood in front of the mirror, leaning against the sink, gripping onto it for dear life. She glared at her reflection in the mirror, unsure of the person she saw staring right back at her. She wasn't even sure if she recognised herself anymore. The person who she was last night, while she had been engaging in some of the most fantastic, amazing, and probably hottest sex she'd ever had in her life couldn't be the person she was, for that person was a cheater, and Haley had always prided herself as being someone who was honest and decent. But as much as she knew she had done wrong again, for this was not the first time she had cheated on Tom, she couldn't help the blush that seeped through her skin as she remembered what she and Nathan had been doing last night. He was absolutely amazing, and she seemed to fit him perfectly, which made all of this all the more confusing.

She jolted herself out of her thoughts and decided to sweep them out of her mind, for now was not the time for her to start feeling guilty again. She took a deep breath and turned the tap on, splashing the cold water over her face, hoping that some of the shame she felt over what she was doing to Tom would get washed away with the water, before she turned the tap off and patted her face dry with a towel she found hanging on the side of the sink. She took another deep breath as she placed the towel back where she had found it and walked out of the bathroom.

~*~

Nathan heard the knock at the door for the second time and groaned when he realised that whoever was at the door wasn't going to go away until he answered it. He hopped out of bed and searched for his boxers, which he found halfway across the room past the foot of the bed and placed them on him before stretching as he yawned and walked into the lounge and over to open the door. Once the door had been opened, he found a member of the waiting staff with a trolley full of breakfast goodies and some coffee, which smelt like heaven to Nathan at the moment. He was slightly confused by the fact that there seemed to be two plates, two cups, two sets of cutlery, as he had assumed that the hotel knew that he was here alone, but he didn't think anymore about it for he was still far too tired, as he stepped out of the way and allowed the waiter to place the breakfast inside his room.

He signed the slip and gave it back to the waiter, thanking him as he walked out of the room and closed the door once he had left. He was still feeling slightly angry that Haley had run off again, but he wasn't going to let that bother him now, he had the whole weekend to wallow in his self pity, he may as well enjoy the breakfast first.

He suddenly jerked his head up as he heard the sound of a door opening, coming from the bedroom and then gasped as he saw Haley walk out into the lounge area of his suite, dressed in nothing but the white shirt he had been wearing last night with his tux and her satin white panties, looking every inch the sexy woman she was, what with her hair all messy from the night before, her curvy legs showing from the length of his shirt, and then there was the fact that she had only chosen to button two of the buttons on the shirt, just securing it over her body, her cleavage and stomach exposed. Nathan couldn't help staring at her, his eyes travelling appreciatively up and down her body, before his gaze locked with hers. He breathed a sigh of relief, so thankful that she hadn't walked out on him at all, so thankful that she was still here.

Haley couldn't help shuffling from one foot to the other as she felt Nathan's gaze wander over her body, suddenly feeling incredibly self conscious. She bit down on her lip and played with her fingers as she waited to catch his gaze with hers. When her eyes connected with his, she couldn't help but smile, he looked so sexy, dressed in nothing but his boxers, his incredibly chiselled chest and abs on view for her to admire, which she did as her gaze dropped to his stomach. She realised that they were both gawping at each other, not saying anything, so she decided to break the silence. "I hope you don't mind but I ordered some breakfast for us." Haley stuttered, still unable to stop her eyes from travelling over his body.

Nathan heard her speak but his brain wasn't registering what she was saying, something about breakfast, but Nathan wasn't hungry for food, he was only hungry for her, the desire for Haley completely taking over. He walked forward towards her, closing the gap between them with two easy strides, bringing his hands up to cup her face, before lowering his mouth to hers, feeling his lips connect with hers, kissing her softly, and then pulling away and dropping his hands to her waist, resting his forehead against hers. "I thought you had left." Nathan whispered softly.

Haley closed her eyes, the feeling of his breath blowing softly over her skin, enjoying the sensations it caused. She had surprised herself this morning, sure that she would get the feeling that she needed to get out of here, that she needed to get away from Nathan, but that feeling hadn't come. She had felt guilty, but that guilt was hers to deal with, and she had chosen to stay, despite the small but nagging voice in her head that told her what she was doing was so very, very wrong. She blocked it out though, deciding that she didn't want to listen to it. What she had done with Nathan had felt so amazing, there was no way she was going to be able to stop herself from wanting more, she would be incredibly foolish to try to fight the desire and longing she had for him, it would be such a pathetic fight, it wasn't even worth the effort. Haley opened her eyes, finding Nathan's gorgeous blue eyes staring right back at her. As always, she found herself getting lost in them, forgetting what she was going to say back to him, unsure if she was even going to say anything. She dropped her gaze to his luscious lips, and leant up on her tip toes to kiss him gently, before shaking herself from her daydream, realising that if she didn't move away from him now, she would stay staring at his eyes for the rest of the day. She unwrapped herself from his grasp on her waist, and she turned and walked towards the breakfast trolley. "Come on you, the coffee is going to get cold." Haley said as she walked away from him.

Nathan watched the way her body moved his shirt, which was far too big for her, but she looked so hot. He reached out and grabbed one of her wrists that she had swung back as she had started walking away from him, pulling her back towards him, her back crashing into his chest as he wrapped one arm around her waist and rested another hand over her shoulder, sneaking his hand just underneath his shirt. He leant his mouth down and inhaled her scent, she still smelt absolutely delicious, before kissing the spot just underneath her left ear, moving his mouth up towards her ear lobe and nibbling on it. "Have you got any idea how incredibly sexy you look in that shirt?" Nathan whispered huskily in her ear, before moving his mouth back down to that spot just underneath her ear, his tongue swirling around in a circle before his mouth covered the spot in a kiss.

A shiver went right through Haley as she heard him whisper in her ear, his breath tickling her skin. She closed her eyes and leant back into Nathan as she felt his tongue and mouth work absolute wonders on her skin. She let out a content sigh and lifted her arm to attach it around Nathan's neck, securing him in place. "Well I can't look as sexy as you do in it." Haley replied, half murmuring and half moaning given what Nathan was doing to her, he was lucky he had got a response out of her; quite how her brain had managed to string together a sentence was beyond her comprehension right now. "Mmmm that's so good!" She moaned as he continued his ministrations on her neck.

The hand that Nathan had placed underneath the shirt started travelling lightly over her skin, just touching her breast as his mouth moved further down her neck, biting, nipping and licking his way down her skin. "Trust me, you do." He returned against her skin, moaning as he dropped his hand further, taking her full breast in his hand, massaging it as his mouth continued to kiss her neck. She felt absolutely amazing, and the way her nails were scraping at the nape of his neck was driving him crazy.

Haley let out a loud moan once Nathan's fingers started playing with her nipple, running it between his fingers, and then dropping his hand further, his fingers going around in a circle, tracing the outline of her breasts. She could feel herself getting more and more turned on, the throbbing in between her legs getting stronger with each second that passed. She opened her eyes, suddenly aware of what she was doing. "Nathan..." She moaned as she felt his hand continue to play with her breast and nipple, the other running over her stomach, playing with the elastic of her panties.

"Mmmm?" Nathan moaned against her neck. He loved kissing her neck, but the longing to feel her lips against his again was getting to be too much for him to bear, he was going to have to turn her around soon, but he was having too much fun playing with her nipples to stop just yet.

Haley's breathing was becoming much more laboured, she couldn't really think of what she was trying to say. "We should eat." She said quickly, while the thought was in her mind, for she knew that it would only be there for a second, only to be replaced with thoughts of the complete divine pleasure Nathan was giving her. Why she was talking about food, she had no idea, but it seemed sensible given that the food had just been delivered.

"The only thing I want to eat is you and I bet you taste more delicious than anything they have delivered." Nathan said huskily against her neck, the smirk spreading across his face as he thought of being able to taste her, sure that she would taste fucking amazing. That was something he hadn't had the chance to do yet, but he was going to make damn sure he did it soon, now was preferable, but he could already feel Haley moving away from him, so he decided to give in and let her have her breakfast. She managed to wangle her way out of his grasp, and walked towards the breakfast trolley, picking up the two plates and turning to hand him one, Nathan smirking at the blush which had crept right over her face, spreading down to her chest. "What are you blushing about?" He teased as he took the plate she was offering out of her grasp and into his own hands.

Haley turned away from him again once he had taken his plate, sure that her blush was now growing a deeper shade of red. She didn't know how he managed to do it but he always seemed to do this to her. She didn't know how to answer him and so chose to stay quiet, picking out a croissant and moving to the table, making sure that she wasn't facing him when she sat down.

Nathan shook his head at her. She was far too cute for her own good. He grabbed a croissant for himself and picked up the two cups of coffee, before heading over to the table, handing her a cup as he took his seat. She didn't even look up to acknowledge that he had given her the cup, instead just reaching out her hand and picking it up and then taking a sip. Nathan couldn't help the laugh escaping from his lips; he thought it was funny how embarrassed she got about things.

Haley let him laugh, but still lifted her gaze to glare at him, only once she locked eyes with his laughing blue ones, her glare turned to more of just a stare of wonderment. _Damn his eyes! _Haley thought to herself, there she went again, getting completely lost in them again.

Once Haley had finished her croissant, she drunk the rest of her coffee and then cleared her throat before starting to speak, glancing over at the television and noticing the time. "I'd better make a move." Haley said as she stood up and walked into the bedroom, picking up her clothes that lay randomly across the room.

Nathan followed her into the bedroom, leaning against the door as he watched her bend over and pick up various items of clothing, enjoying the view of her ass which was far too sexy. "You don't have to go you know, you can stay here as long as you want to." Nathan said, hoping that she could spend the day with him.

Haley picked up her bra, which was the last of her clothes. "I would love to, but I still have some unpacking to do at my house." Haley said honestly. "Do you mind if I use the shower?"

"Go ahead." Nathan said as he gestured towards the bathroom, watching as she turned and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her, not before sending and incredibly sexy smile his way. Nathan sighed as he drunk the rest of his coffee, turning back into the lounge area, picking at another croissant for something to do, trying incredibly hard to keep his mind, or legs, from wandering to Haley and that shower.

Haley finished getting back in the dress she had been wearing last night, and tied her hair up with one of the emergency hair bands she kept in her handbag. Once she was reasonably satisfied with her appearance, she walked back through the bedroom, grabbing her shoes and then heading into the lounge, finding Nathan sitting on the couch watching some sports channel.

Nathan wasn't really watching the game that was showing on the TV, his mind wouldn't concentrate on anything other than that fact that Haley was naked in the shower, and he wanted more than anything to join her in it. But somehow he had managed to restrain himself. He watched as she walked into the lounge, carrying her heels. He really didn't want her to leave. "You sure you can't stay?" Nathan said as he followed her towards the door.

"I want to." Haley answered. "But I have so much to do at my place, and I know if I don't do it now, half of my clothes will stay forever packed in boxes."

"Well I prefer you in no clothes so I sure won't miss half of your wardrobe." Nathan said huskily as he wound his hands around her waist and captured her lips in a sensuous kiss, his tongue running instantaneously over her lip, asking for entry which she readily granted. He moaned when he felt his tongue slide into her mouth and touch hers, his grip on her waist tightening as her hands found their way around his neck, her heels still hanging from her hands down his back.

Haley could feel her self resolve slipping as Nathan's tongue started tangling with her own. Her moaning was increasing in frequency as she felt his hands start to move up and down her back, holding her close to him so she could feel his chest against the material of her dress. Her hands had now released her shoes to the floor and were now moving through his hair and down his neck of their own accord, not a thought was being processed by her brain, other that the feeling of being back in his arms. She knew she had to get away though, otherwise she would never leave. She started to pull her mouth back, only Nathan's started to follow her, capturing her lips again with his. "Nathan." She said against his lips, trying to pull away again. "I have to go!" Haley said with a giggle as his lips covered hers once more.

Nathan knew he was being selfish, he wanted her to himself for the whole day but she had plans and so he couldn't stop her from leaving. He pulled away and smiled at her, his grip on her loosening ever so slightly.

Haley looked up at his eyes again, smiling back at him. "I'll see you on Monday?" Haley questioned, hoping that his week of ignoring her at the coffee shop had ended.

Nathan reached out at tucked some of her hair that had escaped from her ponytail behind her ear, and then brushed his hand down her soft cheek. "I'll be there." He said softly, leaning in to kiss her lips gently.

Haley closed her eyes and opened them again once he had kissed her. She had to use every inch of willpower she had in her to get her feet moving towards the door, and somehow she managed to. She turned as she opened the door, sending one last smile Nathan's way before walking out of the hotel room, closing the door behind her.

Nathan sighed loudly once the door had closed, and ran a hand through his hair. He had never felt so amazed by a single person before, but that was the wonder of Haley, the power and hold she had over him. He couldn't resist it when he walked over to the desk, seeing his mobile sitting on it, and sending her a text. He had no idea how he had survived last week, not seeing Haley had been a huge mistake on his part, one that he wasn't going to make again, not now he knew what a week without her in his life was like.

Haley had just stepped out of the hotel and had hailed herself a cab when she heard her phone vibrating in her bag. Once she was seated in the taxi, she pulled out her phone and saw that Nathan had sent her a text message. She opened it quickly, wondering if she had left something up in the room, only to smile at what he had sent.

'Miss you already x'

Haley text him back immediately, letting him know that she missed him too, and she did, it was rather pathetic really, she had only been apart from him for about five minutes and she could feel the ache in her chest for him, the anticipation of seeing him on Monday already building, lord knows what she was going to be like on Sunday evening, knowing that she got to see him again the next day. And as she watched the world of New York pass her by, she was astounded to realise that her fiancé hadn't even really figured in her thoughts at all last night. She shook her head at how wrong that was, but was unable to keep the smile off her face at how right everything seemed to be with Nathan.

~*~

Nathan found himself unable to sit still. He was back, in the familiar chair, with the same paper and the same four espresso shots piled up next to him, the fifth having just been delivered to him by the waitress along with Haley's latte. He had no idea how he had survived the rest of the weekend, but the constant texting between him and Haley had helped somewhat. He literally felt like he was going to burst if she didn't walk through that door in the next minute. Every time the stupid bell above the door chimed as the door opened, he would jump out of his seat, hoping that each person that walked through the door was her.

After what felt like an hour, the bell chimed again, and Nathan looked up, not expecting it to be her, because, well after what felt like a thousand people had walked through that door, the chances of it actually being the one person he wanted to see were slim. But the smile spread across his face when he saw that it was indeed her. He glanced obviously at the clock. "So I see living in Manhattan makes absolutely no difference to your time keeping..." Nathan teased as he handed Haley the latte he had just ordered for her.

"Oh shut up!" Haley said as she rolled her eyes and took her seat. "I'll have you know that I am late not because I can't keep to time, the stupid Subway system can't! So don't you blame me!" Haley finished, slapping Nathan's arm playfully as she grabbed her latte and took a long sip. "Mmmm that's so good!"

Nathan raised his eyebrow as she said the last part of that sentence and couldn't help himself as he leaned in close to her ear. "I love it when you say that. I loved it even more when it was me making you say that." Nathan pulled away from her ear and drunk his shot of espresso, watching in satisfaction as the blush swept its way quickly over her face. He leant back into her ear. "And there is that incredibly sexy blush again." He winked as he pulled away this time, smiling right at her.

Haley couldn't help but smile back, there was something about Nathan, something about the way he made her feel, she couldn't describe it, but it felt nothing short of amazing, and it wouldn't matter if they were sitting having coffee or having incredibly hot sex, she always felt amazing when she was with him. She looked up at him and could see that smile on his face, making her knees weak. She took another sip of her latte, hoping to diffuse some of the obvious sexual tension that was in the air. She cleared her throat as she placed her latte down on the table, wrapping her hands around her mug, trying to think of some way to change the subject to something safer. "So are you busy at work this week?"

Nathan chuckled at the obvious change of subject but decided to play along with it. "I'm always busy. How about you?" He asked.

Haley nodded her head. "Pretty busy, not too bad though." She continued to play with her mug, very aware that there was no conversation flowing between them at all right now. She didn't want to look at him; for fear that he had one of those smirks on his face that made her literally melt. She took another sip of her latte, finishing it off.

Nathan watched as she finished her latte and looked up at the clock, smirking at the little good her change in subject did but deciding to relieve her from his company for today. "Well I'd better head off to work."

"Yeah me too." Haley sighed as she put her coat back on and lead the way to the door, walking out into the cold. She wasn't sure how to say goodbye to Nathan, for this was the first time she had seen him at the coffee shop since they had slept together. The sudden urge to want to kiss him senseless was taking over, but she knew that she couldn't do that, not when they were so close to her work. She started shuffling from foot to foot, fully aware that Nathan would know that she was nervous about something.

Nathan watched as Haley moved from foot to foot, seeing how nervous she was at saying goodbye to him. He decided to take charge and leant in to give her a kiss on the cheek, pulling away quickly so the desire to kiss her properly wouldn't take over his whole body. "Same time tomorrow?" He asked.

Haley nodded her head. "Same time tomorrow." She confirmed, before turning and walking to the office, knowing that if she didn't move now, something incredibly dangerous would happen between them, and she would have been fully to blame, and there were far too many people around for her to do things like that. She walked inside her building and once she had made it to the safety of the lift, she reached into her purse and found her engagement ring, slipping it back onto her finger, sighing as she felt much more than the weight of the ring on her finger, it was strange what wearing it did to her, making her feel tied in some way to Tom, which was why she took it off whenever she didn't have to wear it, for she wasn't sure at all if she wanted to be tied to Tom in any way, especially for the rest of her life. She really did have some big decisions to make.

~*~

Haley was sitting at her desk, typing away, it was amazing how much more efficient she was being this week compared to last, when she could hardly concentrate given that Nathan wasn't in her life last week. She was speeding her way through her work, typing letters in record speed, actually having to ask Lucas to give her more work. She sensed that someone was beside her desk, and she looked up from the presentation she was currently preparing, seeing a delivery man next to her. He handed her an envelope and got her to sign the sheet of paper. Haley eyed the envelope suspiciously, wondering who the hell would be sending her stuff. She tore it open and inside she found two tickets to the Broadway show she had wanted to see for literally a year now, and the card was signed from Tom. She picked up her phone and called him.

"Scott Investment Management, Tom speaking." He answered.

"Tom, it's me. Are these tickets a joke?!" Haley said quickly, confused that Tom had done this for her, especially after last Friday when he had all but said that he wouldn't be able to see her until the tender was over, but also feeling incredibly excited that he had done this for her. That was why she couldn't quite believe it, she wasn't used to him doing things like this for them and plus, she wasn't sure that he was coming with her yet.

"Hey Haley, so you got the delivery then? Do you like them?" Tom asked.

"I love them!" Haley squealed.

"Good, I know I haven't been able to spend much time with you lately, what with work being so crazy and all, so I thought these tickets would make it up to you a bit, so we could spend some quality time together." Tom said.

Haley gasped. "You're coming with me?"

Tom laughed. "Of course I am. They're for this Friday; we've got a box to ourselves. You aren't busy on Friday are you?" Tom asked.

"No, of course not, I wouldn't miss this for the world! Thank you Tom, you didn't have to do this." Haley said.

"Yes I did. I haven't been much of a Fiancé to you these past couple of weeks, and although the tender isn't over yet, I just wanted to do something special for you."

"Well thank you Tom."

"You're welcome. I'd better get back to work." Tom said as Haley heard him start tapping away on his keyboard.

"Sure, I'll call you later on."

"Bye Haley."

"Bye." Haley said as she hung up the phone, still staring at the tickets he had just surprised her with. She placed them down on her desk, and started typing again, only this time she had slowed down, smiling at how thoughtful he was being, finding that she had stopped typing altogether; she was playing with her engagement ring as she stared down at the tickets, and all of a sudden, the ring didn't seem quite so heavy anymore.

~*~

The week was nearly drawing to a close, and although the week wasn't going as slowly as it had been the previous week, for Nathan, it still felt like it was travelling at a torturous pace. The only reason why this week wasn't as bad as the last was the fact that he was seeing Haley again, whereas the prior week, Nathan had made the stupid mistake of choosing to avoid her. However, now that they had shared that incredible night together, Nathan couldn't help but want more from her, and although meeting up with her for coffee each morning, and them both texting back and forth constantly during the day was better than nothing, for Nathan, it just wasn't enough.

Thursday had just crawled to an end; Nathan was just shutting down his computer, noting that it was already ten thirty at night. He yawned as he turned off the light to his office, heading down the corridor towards the elevator. He noticed that Tom's office light was on again, and so on the way, he knocked on the door, checking that he was still in, thinking that he had just left his light on by mistake, but not sure given that he had been working so late last Friday, so there was always the chance that he could still be in, however slight. But Nathan was still surprised when he heard Tom's voice calling him into the office. Nathan opened the door, and was surprised yet again to find Tom and Jade huddled around the table in his office again. "Guys, you need to go home!" Nathan said incredulously.

"Hey Nathan!" Tom laughed. "I know but this tender is just taking up a lot of our time at the moment."

"Well, do it tomorrow, it's far too late to still be working!" Nathan said as he shook his head.

"We'll be heading off soon." Tom assured Nathan.

Nathan turned to Jade. It was just simply wrong for a secretary to be working at ten thirty at night. "Jade, you can go now if you want." Nathan gave the instruction he as Managing Director had the authority to give.

"Honestly I don't mind." Jade said sweetly, smiling up at Nathan to show that she wasn't being kept here against her will.

Nathan shook his head, not understanding why she wasn't running out of the door. "Okay, well go home soon." Nathan said as he began to shut the door to Tom's office.

"Will do." Tom shouted to the closing door.

~*~

Haley was so excited that Friday was here, she couldn't wait to see the show, it was one she had been trying to get tickets to for an absolute age, but always finding that she was always too late when they had released them, so she had no idea how Tom had managed to get them at such short notice, not that she was complaining, it was actually a very sweet thing for him to do, given that the show was incredibly girly and probably something that he was not going to enjoy. She had made sure that she dressed up enough so that she looked good enough to go to the theatre but not too dressy for work, given that she was meeting Tom at the theatre in Midtown straight from work. She had chosen to wear a light grey high waist pencil skit and teamed it with a light pink shirt, wearing some black pointed stilettos to complete her look. As she walked onto her floor, Peyton whistled in approval at her outfit choice, which made Haley feel much better about her choice; she wasn't sure if it was entirely appropriate for either event of the day but it would have to do.

The day was going by quickly, she hadn't been able to see Nathan this morning because she spent too much time swapping outfits in her amazing walk in wardrobe, but she had let him know that she wasn't coming by sending him a text, which he hadn't responded to. She hoped she hadn't pissed him off but if she was going to get to Midtown in time to meet Tom, she couldn't be late for work.

~*~

Nathan couldn't believe that Haley hadn't been able to see him today. He felt like throwing his phone at the coffee shop door when he had received the message from her this morning, in a moment of complete anger and upset that he wasn't going to be able to talk or see her today, but he quickly got over the momentary anger, instead realising that he would have to find some way to see her this weekend instead, and if she couldn't see him at the weekend, well then there was always next week.

The day was dragging though, and he knew it was because he hadn't seen her this morning, it was amazing how quickly he had fallen back into the routine of seeing her again, and not seeing her today had completely knocked him off course. He had spoken to Lucas during the week about him staying at his apartment again, but Lucas still hadn't told his secretary about him being the owner of the apartment, so he had booked himself into a hotel again this weekend, he couldn't be bothered to go home last night given how late it had been when he had left work, and so he had booked the room until Monday, hoping to do some shopping during the day tomorrow and then relax on Sunday ready for another gruelling week at work.

Eventually the day had nearly drawn to a close, and the fact that Nathan hadn't seen Haley all day was really starting to take its toll, it was like he was having withdrawal symptoms or something, the urge to see her was more than he could take, the longing to kiss her, to be with her too much for him to handle. He picked his mobile up off his desk and dialled her number, hoping that she would at least pick up.

~*~

Haley had managed to get out of work on time, and had decided to grab a cab up to Midtown, and so was standing outside her office building, waiting for one of the many that flew past her to actually stop. Eventually one did, and she climbed in, giving the cab driver the address of the theatre, when she heard her phone ringing in her bag. She reached down into her bag for it and picked up without looking to see who it was that was calling her, sighing as she felt the cab stop in what looked like an extremely long queue of traffic.

"Hello?" She said as she picked up the phone, her voice having a tone of slight frustration given that it looked like she was going to be late for the show, even though she had managed to get out of work on time.

"Haley it's me." Nathan said as he heard her pick up the phone, sensing the tone of her voice. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Haley couldn't help the smile on her face when she heard his voice, it was such a natural reaction for her, his voice was so husky and sexy and such a turn on, and her frustrations melted away. "Yeah I'm fine, just stuck in traffic. I'm so sorry about today, I needed to get to work on time today and I was running late."

"Well I'm hoping that you can make it up to me." Nathan said silkily down the phone.

"And how do you propose I do that?" Haley flirted back, the grin still spread across her face.

"Come and see me now. I need you Hales. I haven't been able to concentrate on anything but you all day." Nathan said seriously.

Haley groaned. She really wanted to see Nathan, but she couldn't see him tonight, not when Tom had planned a whole evening for her. "Nathan, I have plans tonight..."

"Cancel them." Nathan demanded.

His voice was still incredibly sexy and the tone of it sent a shiver right through Haley. She sighed heavily. "I can't Nathan. I'm sorry." She closed her eyes as she said the words, practically forcing them out of her mouth, but she knew she had to do this.

"Listen, I'm at the same hotel as last weekend, in the same suite. If you can, come and see me. I promise I will make it worth your while." Nathan finished as he snapped his mobile shut, getting in the car that was waiting for him, praying that Haley would drop her plans tonight, like he had told her, he needed to see her, and he didn't know how he was going to last until Monday if she wouldn't come to the hotel.

~*~

Haley held the phone away from her ear as she heard the tone indicating that Nathan had finished the conversation. There was something about that tone that he had taken with her that made her literally throb with desire for him. She thought to Tom, who had arranged what she was sure would be an amazing evening for the both of them to spend some quality time together, time that they definitely needed with each other. And then there was Nathan. There shouldn't be any decision for her to make. If she was the same Haley she had been before she had started working in Manhattan, she would have done the right thing. But she had changed. He had changed her. She lifted her hand and held it to her head, still trying to stop herself from doing this, but she couldn't. "Excuse me. Can you go somewhere else instead please?" She shouted through the glass to the cab driver quickly before her mind had the chance to shut her mouth up, as she removed her ring from her finger and placed it in her purse.

~*~

Nathan looked around the hotel room, pacing up and down. He had called room service and had them deliver a few things to the room and now he was just waiting for her. He wasn't sure if he should have been so short with her when he had called, but he meant what he said, he needed her, and if she came, he was definitely going to make it worth her while. Now all he needed was for her to knock on that door that he kept staring at. He decided to keep his gaze off the door, instead occupying himself with the second bottle of champagne he had ordered, and placed it in the fridge. As he shut the door to the fridge, he heard a knock at the door. He swiftly walked over to the door, opening it quickly, a sigh of relief escaping from his lips when he saw her standing on the other side of the door, before the smile spread across his face. "You came." He said as he moved out of the way, letting her walk into the suite, closing the door once she had moved inside the room.

Haley smiled timidly as she walked further into the suite, taking off her coat and handing it to Nathan who had his arms out waiting for her to hand it to him. She walked further into the suite, over to the window to look at the incredible view of the city he hand from his window, glancing to the left, seeing the champagne he had set up in the bedroom. She turned to him and raised her eyebrow. "What's all this?" Haley asked as she walked into the bedroom and saw that he had champagne, strawberries and chocolate sauce laid out in the bedroom and threw her bag onto the bed.

Nathan walked in behind her and whispered seductively in her ear. "Well I did say I would make it worth your while." He then bit down on her ear, and then walked around her, grabbing the champagne from the ice bucket, pulling the cork and pouring it into two glasses, handing Haley one and taking a sip of his own, watching as her luscious lips took the glass between them as she sipped down some of the champagne. His eyes travelled down her body, taking in her outfit today, he especially liked the way the skirt hugged her waist, and then there were the way her legs looked so sexy with the height of her shoes. The longing to kiss her was now far too strong for him to deny and so he grabbed the glass from her hands once she had finished taking her sip and placed it back down on the sideboard with his own, pulling her slightly roughly towards him, capturing her lips with his, his tongue forcing its way into her mouth without having the patience to wait for her to open her mouth for him.

Haley felt Nathan's tongue push its way into her mouth and before she knew it, his hands had moved around her back, and hers had made their way around his neck. She felt her mouth move together with his, as his fingers edged under her shirt and slowly traced their way around the sides of her body and around to her stomach, causing her to flinch as he tickled her on the way around. She moaned when she felt his tongue move seductively with hers inside of her mouth, as his hands started to move up to her buttons, quickly undoing them and pushing the shirt off her shoulders, throwing it down onto the floor. Haley found her own hands move from Nathan's neck, over his strong shoulders, and then move down to the buttons of his shirt, undoing them one by one, kissing her way down his chest when she exposed a new part of his skin, listening to Nathan moan out her name as she did so. Once she got to the bottom of his shirt, she reached up and pulled the shirt off his arms and dropped it on the floor.

Nathan's hands then moved to Haley's skirt, feeling around for the buttons, which he found on the right hand side, lowering the zip once the buttons had been undone and then easing the material over her hips and letting it slide down her legs, his hands quickly moving up to her bra which he unclasped and threw on the floor, the hunger for her all consuming as his mouth found hers again. He walked Haley backwards and picked her up off the floor and threw her down on the bed, taking her shoes off and throwing them across the room, before climbing on top of her, capturing her mouth with his again, before moving his mouth down to her neck, nipping and biting his way down it, then licking and sucking on her soft skin.

Haley felt Nathan's mouth move down her collar bone towards her breast, and once he had found her nipple, he grabbed it between his teeth and tugged on it, then used his tongue to sweep over it as his hand came slowly up her side, and then started to massage her other breast, causing her to moan out loud given what he was doing to her right now. She closed her eyes and allowed the feelings to wash all over her, consume her. She was just about to start grabbing for his trousers, when he moved off her. Her eyes snapped open and she looked up, wondering where he had gone. She watched him move off the bed, over to where the champagne and strawberries were. "Where are you going?" Haley asked.

Nathan turned around and smirked at her, as he picked up one of the strawberries, dipped it in the chocolate, and then walked his way back over to the bed quickly, climbing back on top of Haley, watching as some of the chocolate sauce dripped its way on her body. "Strawberry?" He asked as he placed the strawberry above her mouth, lowering it so she could take a bite.

Haley felt the cold chocolate sauce dripping on her body, and then Nathan held a strawberry above her mouth, causing some of the sauce to drip onto the side of her mouth. She opened her mouth and allowed Nathan to place the strawberry inside of it, as she bit down on the fruit, and then opened her mouth to release it, and watched as Nathan threw the rest of the fruit over to the sideboard, before he gazed into her eyes with such a burning desire, Haley honestly thought that his eyes were on fire, which caused the butterflies she felt in her stomach move into overdrive.

Nathan could see the drops of chocolate sauce on her body, and instantly felt incredibly hungry. He leaned down to her mouth, licking his way around her lips, making sure that he got all of the chocolate sauce that had dripped around her mouth, and then leant back up, seeing the shock in Haley's eyes as she realised what he was about to do next. He smirked as he moved his mouth over her body, hovering above her skin until he found some of the chocolate sauce, then extending his tongue so that he was touching her skin, and the proceeded to lick the drops of sauce off her amazing body.

Haley gasped when she felt Nathan's tongue on her body, leaving here feeling a complete mixture of hot and cold as his warm tongue traced its way along her body, then once he pulled away, the shock of not having his mouth on her stomach left her feeling cold. He reached off the bed and grabbed the rest of the chocolate sauce and held it above her body. "Nathan...." Haley warned.

"What?" Nathan asked his eyes wide with innocence. "I can't help it; you just taste too irresistible with all this..." Nathan then started to pour some of the sauce on her body, "chocolate sauce on you!" He then placed the bowl back on the side of the table and then licked every single inch of the sauce off her body.

Haley couldn't help the moaning that was escaping through her lips, his tongue felt so good on her. She felt his mouth move lower down her body and his fingers grasped the elastic of her panties, pulling them down her legs and then she felt his mouth back on her leg, his tongue tracing the shape of her leg, before he moved onto the inside of her thigh. She gasped when she felt his tongue move closer and closer towards her clit, the anticipation building deep inside of her, the seconds passing by seemed like they were hours as she waited to feel his mouth on her. She let out a loud moan when she felt his mouth lay an incredibly light kiss on her clit, before his mouth moved down and then his tongue reached into her folds, licking his way back up to her clit.

Nathan could already taste her juices, and she tasted absolutely phenomenal, she was so wet, it was making him get even harder than he already was, which he had thought would have been completely impossible. He moved his tongue over her clit, flicking it lightly with his tongue. He could hear the gasps coming from Haley's mouth, it was clear that she was enjoying this as much as he was enjoying doing it to her.

Haley could feel Nathan's tongue moving expertly around her clit when she heard her phone start to ring in her bag which was on the other side of the bed. "Nathan..." She said breathlessly, hoping that he would stop. He stopped for a second and she took the opportunity to grab her phone from her bag, seeing that it was Tom calling her. "Fuck!" Haley called out. She had completely forgotten to call him once she had made the decision to come and see Nathan instead of going to meet him. She flipped her phone open. "Hey babe." She said.

Nathan instantly rolled over to face her from where he was currently laying on the bed when he heard her say the word 'babe'. That must be the boyfriend on the phone. He instantly felt that jolt of jealousy surge through him, and suddenly had a wicked idea. Haley would probably kill him for it, but it would be worth it. He rolled all the way over and started to lick her folds with his tongue again, waiting for her reaction.

Haley jolted away from Nathan, trying to kick him away with her legs. _What the hell was he thinking? _She thought to herself. However, her legs were soon held in place by his strong hands, and she knew that it was pointless trying to shake them free, his hold on her was far too strong. She tried to concentrate on what Tom was saying to her, something about her being late. "I know, I'm sorry I got caught up at work. Ahhhhh." Haley said, the moan escaping her lips she felt Nathan's tongue move around her clit.

Nathan smirked when he heard her moaning, but he wanted to hear more from her. He reached his hand up and thrust two fingers into her just when she started to speak again.

"Fuck!" Haley cried out when she felt Nathan's fingers plunge into her. She gasped when she felt him start to thrust in and out of her. "No, I'm fine, I just nearly fell over." Haley covered quickly for her sudden outburst, sure that as soon as she had put the phone down on Tom she was going to crucify Nathan.

Nathan's tongue was still moving around her clit, and his fingers were still moving in and out of her. He curved them up at the end so that he started to hit her in the right spot to really get her going, and moved his lips so that he could suck down on her clit.

Haley couldn't stop her laboured breathing. Tom was starting to ask if she was okay, starting to get worried about her, but Haley could hardly think of anything, other than what Nathan was doing to her. "Tom, I'm fine, listen, I'm sorry about tonight." Haley was starting to feel that coil in her stomach tighten and she knew she had to get off the phone as quickly as possible. "I have to go, I'll call you tomorrow." Haley then shut her phone, just in time for her to start crying out in pleasure. Her hands reached up behind her and grabbed a hold of the bars of the head board of the bed as she felt her orgasm wash over her.

Nathan felt Haley's muscles contract around his fingers, as her body started to jolt as she let her orgasm take over. He smiled in satisfaction against her clit as he continued to run his tongue over it until he felt her body calm down.

Haley's breathing was still short and sharp, she was gasping for breath, trying to calm herself down. She couldn't believe that he had done that, but she couldn't be mad at him, not when he had just given her an orgasm like that. She felt his fingers withdraw from her and looked down as he rolled up the bed and moved himself so that he was lying beside her.

Nathan reached out with his hand and then grabbed Haley's waist, pulling her on top of him, moving his mouth towards hers, only to have her pull away, teasing him. "So how did I taste?" Haley asked seductively.

"Absolutely fucking delicious." Nathan muttered, smiling at that blush that crept over her face.

"Well now it's my turn to taste." Haley mumbled against his neck as she started to move her mouth down his body.

**AN – Okay guys... that was really long!!!! I wasn't expecting it to be but oh well! I hope you all enjoyed it. What do you think Tom is going to do about Haley now that she stood him up?!? Let me know what you thought of the chapter by dropping me a review! Thanks x**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN – Hey guys! Thank you all so much for the reviews of the last chapter – I'm so pleased that you all seem to be enjoying the story as much as I enjoy writing it! I also just wanted to say thanks to those of you that reviewed who don't have an account and so I couldn't say thanks personally, (Irene, Maria and Shelley), thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review.**

**So the weather was still snowy here at the end of last week (when I started writing this chapter!) and I've really had enough of it, definitely ready for some sunshine! My fiancé also crashed my car into the back of someone else on Thursday last week – luckily not much damage done, just a bang on the fog light, but I was still very pissed off at him, after me telling him to stick to main roads he decides to go down a hilly country road and then skids on some ice. I was not impressed but then again, when do men ever listen to women huh, so I guess I wasn't surprised!!! **

**Anyway, it was his birthday Friday so I couldn't be mad at him for long... and we got him a new sports car on Saturday so at least now he doesn't need to drive mine around anymore which should save it from any future crashes!!**

**So on with this story... I bet those of you that read Kiss the Rain too weren't expecting an update so soon from me – but I thought it would be something for the weekend to celebrate Valentines Day! I hope you all have fun! ;o) And I hope you all like the update, how do you think Tom will react to Haley standing him up in the last chapter..? I also just wanted to say that the reveal chapter is coming up soon so not long to wait now! **

**Oh and I just want to reiterate that this is an M rated fic so read with caution! x**

**Chapter Seven**

Haley climbed into the waiting car Nathan had called for her the following morning. He had wanted her to spend the day with him, but she didn't want to be a hindrance to his plans, and so decided to go home and made up some excuse, something about lunch plans with a friend so she couldn't stay with him. She sighed as the car pulled away from the hotel and headed towards her penthouse apartment. She could feel the guilt come on in shed loads as she thought back to last night and how she had stood Tom up right at the last minute, after he had booked the impossible to find tickets to the show she had desperately wanted to see. How ungrateful she had been, how un-Haley like her decision to spend the night with Nathan instead of Tom had been. Not that she had been really surprised at her decision; she hadn't acted like herself for a while now. But despite knowing what she was doing to Tom was wrong and incredibly hurtful, she couldn't feel one hundred percent bad about the choices she had been making lately, not when those kind of decisions lead to feeling the way Nathan had made her feel last night, which was absolutely incredible, a pleasure which was beyond what she had thought had existed. Sex with Nathan seemed to get better and better each time they met up, it was like he was tuned into her frequency, he knew all the right buttons to press, he knew how to turn her on.

She looked over at her bag which she had placed on the seat next to her, and could already hear her mobile phone calling to her, taunting her, just daring her to look at it. She knew Tom would be angry, she expected there to be a thousand missed calls and some incredibly irate messages from him, that was the way he was, she knew he didn't like to be messed around and after the phone call he had made to her while Nathan was licking and kissing her down there, well, she couldn't even remember what the hell she had said to Tom, and her mind hadn't even been preoccupied, in that moment, she couldn't think of anything but the shivers of pleasure that were running through her entire body. But she couldn't be bothered to deal with that at the moment, the listening to phone calls could wait until she had reached the penthouse, instead she was more than content to bask in the afterglow of yet another incredible night with Nathan.

After what seemed like far too little time, Haley felt the car slow down to a halt. She shook her head of her daydreams and thanked the driver as she stepped out of the car and into her building. Once inside the penthouse, she threw her bag on the coffee table in the lounge and flopped down on the sofa, letting out a huge sigh. She was putting off listening to the messages, finding things to occupy her thoughts, flicking through last week's TV guide, eyeing the walls for cobwebs that she needed to clean, mentally listing the chores she needed to complete, wash her clothes, go food shopping, tidy her closet, searching for something, anything, to distract her time. However, she soon ran out of things to put on her 'I need to do that' list, and knew she had to deal with Tom, he was probably freaking out now that a full night had passed by and she still hadn't contacted him.

She forced herself up from her floppy state on the sofa and leaned over to the coffee table, grabbing her bag, searching for her phone which was somewhere inside of it. She pulled it out and turned it on, wincing as she waited for the stupid thing to get started so she could get this over and done with. She saw the first missed call come through, together with the voicemail which had been left along with the call. She held her phone up in the air, leaning towards the window, hoping that it would help her mobile get some better reception which would speed this process up. After a minute had passed, she pulled her phone back towards her and looked at the screen, confused as there was still only one missed call and one voicemail on it, which couldn't be right as there was no way Tom would only leave one message, the stupid phone obviously wasn't finished doing whatever it did to get these calls and messages through yet. Frustrated at how long this was taking, she decided to leave the phone for a while and make herself a coffee; it had to be done by the time she had finished making her drink.

With her coffee in her hands, Haley walked slowly back in the lounge, sure that by now her phone would be inundated with missed calls and voicemails. She took a sip of her drink and then placed it on the coffee table, picking up her phone, pressing some keys to bring it back to life, still finding herself surprised at the fact that there was only one missed call and one voicemail listed on it. That could only mean one thing, that Tom had called literally a thousand times and her phone just couldn't cope with the volume of calls, so they had been ignored. It was the only valid reason she could come up with which would mean that Tom had only called her once. She braced herself as she dialled her voicemail number, wondering which voicemail had slipped through the net, would it be the one that was at the start of the night, when perhaps he would have been worried about her, or would it have been one towards the end of the night, when he was sure to be incredibly pissed.

"Haley it's me, what the hell are you doing and why aren't you here? And what the fuck was that, why did you just hang up on me without an explanation? Call me back as soon as you get this. I need to talk to you."

He was pissed. He was doing his whole, I want you to know that I'm pissed but I am a little bit worried about you so call me thing. Haley sighed, knowing that she owed Tom a call back; it would be too rude of her to do what she was doing with Nathan and completely ignore Tom, to not apologise for missing the night he had planned for them both would be too cruel. She scrolled down to his number and hit the call button, trying to disguise the guilt in her voice, praying that he hadn't guessed what she had really been doing last night.

"Haley." Tom said when he picked up his phone. "Why the hell are you only calling me back now? I left that message last night for fucks sake, what the fuck have you been doing all night?"

_Shit. _Haley thought to herself, some major damage control was needed. She felt so guilty that he had been worrying about her the whole night while she had been having some of the best sex of her life. That was wrong, so very, very wrong. "Tom, I don't know what to say, I got caught up with work so I didn't leave on time and then the traffic was really bad so there was no way I was going to make it on time. So I just went home and forgot to call you to let you know. I'm sorry." Haley did her best at lying, trying to keep it simple and believable; not trying to add too many details to her story, hoping that he would buy it.

"Well that's just not good enough Haley. I had a whole evening planned and you couldn't even be fucked to turn up. That's the last time I ever try to do anything special for you again, seeing as you are that ungrateful." Tom shouted, loosing his cool, not one hundred percent sure if he believed what Haley had just told him, when he had spoken to her last night, she hadn't sounded like she was at home, she had just sounded… weird.

"Tom, I'm not ungrateful, what you did, getting those tickets for us was really sweet of you and I really appreciate what you did for me." Haley tried to explain, that part of what she was saying was true, she had been totally surprised when she had received the tickets, it was so unlike Tom to do something like that for her and she really was grateful to him for arranging something like that for them both to do and she now felt really bad at how upset he was getting over the whole thing, she was actually beginning to feel sick almost.

"Whatever Haley." Tom scoffed. "How can you say those things and then not even have the decency to turn up, let alone call me to let me know that you weren't even going to show, what the hell is with that?"

Haley was starting to get pissed at his attitude. She knew partly it was her wanting to find reasoning for her own actions, wanting to make excuses for her own behaviour, behaviour which she knew had been so out of line, so wrong and so rude, but the guilt was eating away at her, and she needed to make herself feel better before she was sick, and the only way she could think to do that was lash out at Tom, accuse him of precisely the same thing he was accusing her of. "Well what about all the times that you have done that to me Tom? Last night was the first fucking time that I haven't turned up to something that you had planned. But what about that time a couple of months ago when I arranged the weekend away for us, that you so curtly cancelled right at the last minute, but forgot to tell me? What about last year when I waited all night for you to come around to my house on your birthday after I had slaved all day, trying to cook a special meal for you, but you never showed? What about the time when I bought my parents into town to see you but you fucking stood us all up?" Haley shouted back.

"Fuck you Haley. Don't try to twist this around to make yourself feel better." Tom snapped at her, wanting to cut in to stop the oncoming tirade of accusations she was sure to be flinging his way.

"Well don't you fucking act like you're some Saint or something because you planned one special evening that I couldn't get to. That is bullshit Tom." Haley growled at him, she wasn't going to let him make her feel bad about standing him up, she already felt like crap given that she was sleeping with someone else behind his back, she didn't need anything else to be added to that weight on her shoulders, especially when standing her up was something that he did regularly.

"I am not acting like I'm a Saint, Haley, I'm just pissed because it took a lot of time for me to get those tickets, it's not like they were just giving them away. That show that you supposedly really wanted to see is sold out until next year." Tom roared back, wanting Haley to understand that this had not just been a case of make a phone call, book a restaurant and hey-ho, there they were, planning that evening had taken time and she didn't seem to give a shit.

"And you don't think that cooking dinner for you, planning a weekend away, getting me and my parents into town took time?" Haley screeched. He was so unbelievably pigheaded. This was classic Tom right here, only thinking of himself, not thinking of the implications of his actions on anybody but himself.

"I never said that Haley. I just want you to understand that it wasn't easy planning last night." Tom said through gritted teeth, not liking the fact that Haley was trying to shaft the spotlight back onto him. She had done wrong, not him. This was about her actions, not his.

"Well I can tell you this, nothing with you is ever easy, Tom." Haley said half laughing, half shouting still, shaking her head at him even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Tom barked down the phone at her, not believing that she had yet again managed to deflect this argument back onto him.

Haley was pissed beyond belief. She was so angry she was shaking, she could feel her phone wobbling at her ear and she could tell that her voice was about to properly crack, but she didn't care, she needed to shout, vent some of her anger and frustrations that she had been bottling inside ever since he had started messing her around, not caring that she had done the same to him last night. "Well I've just let you practically walk all over me Tom. Right from the beginning so it's no wonder that you think you can act the way you do. Cancel plans here; cancel plans there. Well I've fucking had enough of it, no more. Now you know what it feels like when all your efforts go to waste." Haley screamed.

Tom took a deep breath, desperately trying to calm himself down; although he knew that a deep breath was not going to help him now. "So last night was what Haley? You giving me a taste of my own medicine? You getting your own back on me?" He demanded to know what the hell she had been playing at.

Haley sighed loudly. She was tired of her screaming match now, tired of Tom and the way he had been treating her and tired of the guilt that constantly tortured her. "I don't know what it was." Haley answered honestly, quietly.

"Well you'd better fucking work out what it was soon Haley and don't you dare try to do that to me again." Tom snapped at her. He knew what she was doing, she was tired of talking, but he wasn't ready to give up this fight. He wasn't going to let her get away with standing him up that easily.

"Fuck you." Haley snapped. "You can call me back when you calm down enough to talk to me reasonably and not make such ridiculous demands. I will do what I fucking want Tom."

"You'll be waiting a long time for that phone call Haley." Tom shouted down the phone just before Haley hung up and threw her phone as hard as she could across the room, watching as the back fell off and the battery went flying across the floor.

~*~

Nathan had just finished getting himself ready for the day. He hated the fact that Haley had to leave but he couldn't really blame her, she had a life away from him, he had known that when they had decided to take their friendship to the next level so it was pointless moping about it, he had gotten himself into this situation and he was going to have to deal with the consequences of it. He often wondered how Haley saw him, what on earth she thought he was to her. He knew she had to have some sort of feelings for him, he didn't think she was the kind of person who would just have an affair for the sake of it, in fact, he knew she wasn't like that at all. He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face at knowing that she had some level of feelings for him. She was perfect for him, and he could only hope that those feelings would develop over time and eventually she would realise that he meant more to her than the boyfriend did. He chuckled to himself at the thought of her boyfriend, remembering what he had been doing to his girlfriend while he had been on the phone to her last night. If the boyfriend didn't know what was going on then it was clear to him that he had never got Haley that turned on before, and for that he felt almost sorry for the bastard, Haley's breathless moaning and screaming was something that Nathan was sure he couldn't live without, in fact, just thinking about the way she screamed his name had him growing hard.

He lay back on the bed and looked around him, seeing the boring four walls of the hotel suite that almost seemed like home to him now. He thought about how stupid it was given the fact that he had a penthouse apartment just a few minutes away that he couldn't even use because his idiot of a brother hadn't told his secretary that he owned it and it was far too much effort at the moment to use his out of town house, especially when he wanted to be nearby in case Haley ever called him, he knew he would literally kick himself if he had to miss an opportunity to be with her because he wasn't close enough to her. He was getting a little pissed off at the fact that he was spending all his time in hotel rooms too for it would be so much easier for him to see Haley more often if he didn't need to make sure he could book a room first. He made a mental note to call Lucas this week and sort this out, Lucas had had more than enough time to tell the woman now, and it was just getting ridiculous.

He glanced down at the clock on the bedside table and saw that the shops would be open now. He wished Haley could have come with him but she had lunch plans with a friend which meant she needed to get home. He decided he wanted to get her something special, something to show her how much she meant to him, even if she wasn't completely his yet. He wanted her to know that he wanted to be her everything.

~*~

It was Wednesday and Haley hadn't heard from Tom since Saturday morning when they had had that huge argument. She sighed to herself as she looked at her phone for what had to be the hundredth time already that morning, wishing that it would just ring and put her out of her misery. It seemed like this was some sort of routine for her and Tom, either one of them pissed the other off and then they both wasted time not talking, because they both had too much pride to give in. She shook her head at how stupid she was being, she knew how stubborn Tom was, and remembered his parting words to her call to him on Saturday, _"You'll be waiting a long time for that phone call Haley." _She knew that he meant that too. She sighed loudly again, just in time for Peyton to hear as she walked over to Haley's desk.

Peyton looked at Haley, seeing her staring at her phone. She picked it up and looked at it. "You think it's broken?" Peyton said with a raised eyebrow, looking at the sticky tape that was holding the back off her phone together.

Haley grabbed the phone out of Peyton's grasp. "It is not broken." Haley snapped as she placed her phone on the other side of her body, away from Peyton.

"Well it might be, what the hell did you do to it?" Peyton asked, laughing at the scowl Haley sent her way.

"I kind of threw it across the apartment." Haley admitted, shaking her head at her actions.

"Why did you do that?" Peyton enquired, already thinking that she knew the answer, given the constant stream of sighs that she had been hearing coming from Haley since the start of the working week.

Haley turned to face Peyton, and raised her eyebrow at her. "Do you even need to ask?" Haley said with another sigh.

"Thought as much." Peyton said, nodding her head to show Haley that she knew exactly what the problem was. "Come on." She said, grabbing Haley by the arm and pulling her out of her seat. "We're going to get some lunch."

Five minutes later, Haley found herself sitting in a restaurant with Peyton. They had walked far enough away from the office so that they could chat in private, grateful to the waiter who had seated them in the corner so extra privacy could be had. They had a lot to talk about. Haley wasn't entirely sure how much she should tell Peyton, as far as she remembered, Peyton knew that she had kissed Nathan, but she didn't know anymore than that. She didn't know if Peyton would understand what she was doing with Nathan; she didn't know if Peyton would understand how Nathan made her feel. She didn't know whose side Peyton was going to be on in this mini war. And part of her was intrigued to find out.

Once the waiter had taken their order, Peyton watched him walk away and as soon as he was out of ear shot, she turned her attention to Haley. "So what has Tom done now?" She asked accusingly, knowing that Haley's mood had to be to do with him and something he had done, it usually did.

Haley sighed and started to explain the situation to Peyton. "He got me tickets to see that show that I wanted to see on Friday and I sort of didn't turn up and didn't call him to explain why so we had a huge fight about it on Saturday and I haven't spoken to him since."

"Oh." Peyton said surprised. That wasn't what she had been expecting; she had been expecting this to be about something Tom did, not Haley, and from what Haley had just said, it seemed only right that Tom be pissed at her, she didn't get why Haley wouldn't just apologise herself so that they could move past it. "Why didn't you turn up?"

Haley looked down at the table and bit down on her lip, still unsure of what to say, whether to tell Peyton what was going on with her and Nathan, was she really ready to admit that she was having an affair with someone? At least if she kept it to herself, she could ignore it, push those thoughts out of her mind, pretend that she wasn't doing that to Tom. But once she said the words out loud, to anyone, it would make it all real, it would make her be seen as such a horrible person, she didn't know if she could cope with it. However, there was a part of her that wanted to tell someone about it, wanted to get it out in the open so that she was forced to deal with it, forced to recognise what she was doing was wrong and hopefully help her resolve it. "I was with sleeping with someone else." Haley admitted so quietly she wasn't sure herself if those words had actually come out of her mouth.

"What?" Peyton screamed, not believing that Haley had just said what she had. Sure she knew about the kiss she had shared with the coffee shop man, but now she was sleeping with someone? Was it the coffee shop man or was it someone else? What the hell had happened?

"Shut up will you?" Haley said as she snapped her head up from the table that she had suddenly found incredibly interesting and glared at Peyton, finding herself annoyed at how loud she was being. Sure she had expected her to be surprised but the whole restaurant didn't need to know that Haley was revealing a big secret.

"Sorry Haley, I'm just, I don't know, I'm just surprised I guess." Peyton said at a more acceptable volume, trying to run through reasons for having an affair in her mind, trying to find an excuse that would make Haley think that this was an okay thing to be doing, trying to see it from her point of view. Sure Tom was an ass, but did she really need to be cheating on him? Was that fair? She didn't know if she was being honest to herself, she had never had a shit for a fiancé.

Haley looked back down at the table and started playing with her hands; she didn't know what else to say. She had admitted it, and she was waiting for that weight that had been pressing so hard on her shoulders to lift even the slightest bit, but it didn't, if anything it just felt like another tonne had been added on top of the already excruciating weight that was already there. She started playing with her engagement ring, turning it around in a circle on her finger, trying to distract herself.

Peyton eyed Haley suspiciously, looking at her face with great intent, trying to work out what she was thinking, a million thoughts racing through her own head. "Is it the coffee shop guy?" Peyton asked, sure that it was but she still wanted confirmation.

Haley's head snapped up and she glared at Peyton again. "Yes it's the coffee shop guy. God, did you even need to ask? What, you think that I've got this string of men that I'm working my way through?" Haley said while shaking her head. She knew it, she knew that by admitting this Peyton's judgement of her would change, and apparently now she was just a slut.

"Haley I didn't mean it like that, I thought it was him but I just wanted to make sure." Peyton said while trying to defend her question.

Haley sighed, realising she was getting angry over nothing, she already had enough on her plate and she didn't want to piss Peyton off, not when she was just trying to be a friend. "I'm sorry Peyton; I didn't mean to jump down your throat." Haley apologised.

"It's alright Haley." Peyton replied, instantly accepting Haley's apology. Now that Haley had told her what was really wrong, Peyton could see through the mask that Haley had been wearing, trying to disguise what she was really feeling, disguising what was going on. She noticed how tired she looked, how stressed out she looked. "Haley are you sure you're okay, how are you feeling?" Peyton asked, concern pouring out with her words.

Haley didn't know how she felt. Confused was a big possibility, but she wasn't even sure if that was how she was feeling, and as for being okay, well she already knew the answer to that one. A big, fat, resounding no. She could feel the tears welling in her eyes, and she couldn't believe that she was crying about it. She didn't even know who she was crying for, why she was crying. She had told herself that she wouldn't cry, she wouldn't let this get to her. She tried to control the tears; she didn't want any of them to fall.

"Haley." Peyton said softly as she reached out and grabbed her hands which were still laying on the table, taking them in hers. "It's okay Haley." She could see how torn up she was about all of this, and as far as Peyton was concerned, all Haley needed was a fried, and she was going to be just that.

"How is this okay?" Haley chocked out as one tear betrayed her and fell from her eyes. She pulled one of her hands out of Peyton's grasp and quickly wiped it away, closing her eyes to try to stop anymore from falling.

Peyton took a deep breath. "Well Friday night was the first time you slept with him right? Have you kissed him more than the time you told me about?" Peyton asked, trying to find the positives in the situation. Haley could just stop what hadn't really started with the coffee shop man and go on as normal, surely that was something.

Haley bowed her head and blew out a long breath. So Peyton thought this whole thing with Nathan was new? "Peyton Friday wasn't the first time I slept with him." Haley admitted. She may as well come completely clean, what was the point in half truths anyway? It wouldn't matter if it had been once or a thousand times, it would still be wrong, each and every time.

"Oh." Peyton said, shocked that this seemed to have been going on for a while. "Well…" Peyton started, trying to think of something to say, but she couldn't. "Erm, well does he know about Tom?" She asked.

"He knows I have a boyfriend." Haley answered the question, looking up into Peyton's eyes, wondering if she would spot the difference.

"Ah." Peyton said, nodding her head. "Boyfriend not Fiancé."

"Yep." Haley answered in a subdued manner. How the hell had she managed to get herself in this mess? How the hell was she going to get herself out of it? It was a complete dead end.

"Wow… okay." Peyton started. "Well, it's obvious that you have feelings for the coffee shop man isn't it?"

Haley's head snapped up again. "What? I don't have feelings for him." Haley answered back far too quickly, defending herself from something that she couldn't quite put her finger on; she couldn't have feelings for Nathan, that was impossible and how had Peyton deduced that from what she had told her?

"Oh come on Haley. The one person you need to be honest with is yourself. Why do you keep going back for more? You can't tell me that this thing with the coffee shop boy is just about sex, I can see it in your eyes, you're torn."

"No I am not!" Haley nearly shouted back. "I am not torn at all." She said again, more quietly, trying to make Peyton see that there really was no decision to be made, no lies were being told. "I'm engaged to Tom."

"And sleeping with the coffee shop man, not Tom." Peyton reiterated the summary of the whole situation back to Haley. "Why do you need the coffee shop man when you've got Tom?"

"I don't need the coffee shop man and it is just about sex, believe me." Haley said as she sat back in her chair and folded her arms, letting Peyton know that this conversation was closed. Haley glared at Peyton who had a look of smugness on her face and Haley was just grateful for the fact that Peyton couldn't hear that betraying little voice in the back of her head telling her that Nathan meant something to her.

~*~

Nathan sat back in his chair in his office, glancing down at the clock on his computer, seeing that it was half six. He'd had enough of work for the moment; anything else that he was going to get done before he had planned to leave could wait until he'd had a bit of a break. He looked down his To Do list, running his finger over every item that was on it, seeing if there was anything the required his attention urgently; when he came across the phone call he needed to make to Lucas. He picked up his phone and dialled his work number, hoping that he was still in the office, smiling when he heard him pick up.

"Luke, it's me." Nathan said once Lucas had picked up and answered the call.

"Oh hey Nate, how's it going?" He asked.

"Fine, you?" Nathan asked back.

"Good, what can I do for you?" Lucas asked.

Nathan smiled to himself, knowing fore well that Lucas wouldn't have done it yet, he also knew that he would never do it unless it was forced on him. "Have you told the secretary yet?"

Lucas coughed when he heard what Nathan was asking him. "Oh, erm, no I haven't got round to that yet." Lucas answered honestly.

"Luke!" Nathan sighed. "Why not?"

"It just hasn't been the right time!" Lucas tried to defend himself.

"Well I'm getting pissed off at having to sleep in hotel rooms so you're going to have to tell her soon." Nathan said hotly, wanting to force the urgency of the issue onto Lucas so he would get a fucking move on with this.

Lucas rolled his eyes at his brother's theatrics. "Well I'm sure you haven't been using hotel rooms that often Nathan, no need to be so damn dramatic about it." He returned to his brother.

"I'll have you know that I have been using hotel rooms much more regularly than I used to." Nathan said slyly, knowing that Lucas would pick up the tone of his voice instantly.

"No!" Lucas gasped down the phone, wondering if this was the coffee shop girl or someone new. "Nathan Scott has found himself a woman? Who is she?" Lucas asked.

"A true gentleman never kisses and tells!" Nathan laughed at Lucas' reaction before getting serious again. "So I need you to tell this secretary by the end of next week otherwise I'll just start using the apartment without you having said anything okay?"

"Alright, alright." Lucas dismissed his demand, wanting to get back to the subject of the mystery woman. "So who is she?" He asked.

Nathan laughed again, and then heard his phone ringing, picking it up and seeing that it was Haley calling him. "I've got to go, other line, talk soon Luke." Nathan said as he hung up the phone and picked up his mobile.

~*~

Haley hadn't been able to concentrate all afternoon. She knew she shouldn't have said anything to Peyton; she was now more confused now than she had been before she had opened her stupid, big mouth. She can't have feelings for Nathan, she kept telling herself, growing increasingly impatient and pissed off at that stupid voice that kept coming back to her every single time she thought about it. _"Yes you do." _It would return, just like it had done right now. She slammed her pen down on her desk and looked at the clock. It was six thirty-five, and she needed to get out of here. She needed to prove to herself that this thing with Nathan really was just about sex. "You don't think it is huh?" She mumbled out loud to herself as she picked up her mobile and scrolled down to his number, pressing the call button once she had reached it. "Well I'll just fucking show you that it is." She waited patiently for him to answer, smiling at the sound of his voice when he picked up.

"Hey beautiful." Nathan said huskily, almost as a low whisper as he picked up his mobile, pleased to find Haley calling him for what he hoped would be a meet up, the morning coffees were definitely a bonus but the evenings were just so much better.

He always sounded so fucking sexy, especially when he was whispering in that tone in her ear, she could see the lust and passion burning in his incredible eyes, burning so brightly just for her. _"See." _The voice said to her as her mind started wandering. She shook herself from her dirty thoughts and cleared her throat, trying to go into her businesslike mode. "Hi, are you free, I need to see you." Haley said, raising her eyebrow at the tone of her voice, she didn't sound businesslike at all, she sounded turned on. _God help me, _she thought to herself.

Nathan chuckled and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that in just a couple of minutes he would be able to see her again. He missed her like crazy during the day, and the nights he spent away from her seemed to drag on for an eternity, most of the time he had a little countdown going in his head until he could see her again in the morning, which was so pathetic. "Sure, I was going to head home but I can get us the normal hotel suite hopefully, I'll head down there now and if I can't get the usual room I'll text you the new number okay?" Nathan said as he started switching off his computer, too impatient to wait for it to shut down on its own and so pressed the button, holding it down for the ten seconds it needed, switching the screen off and putting on his suit jacket, already headed out of the door before she had even answered him.

"Okay, I'll see you in fifteen minutes." Haley said as she hung up her phone, turning her own computer off and grabbing her bag, placing her engagement ring inside of her purse before heading out of the door to hail a cab.

~*~

Haley had been sitting in the cab for the last ten minutes, coaching herself to be good, to talk to him, to prove to that stupid voice in her head that wouldn't shut up that she could control herself around Nathan, that what they were doing meant nothing. That she really was just with him for sex. She realised that using Nathan for sex made her a horrible person, a slut essentially, but the alternative just didn't bare thinking about.

The cab pulled up outside the hotel that she had been so used to coming in and out of now that it felt so familiar, nice almost, and she could already feel her body start to get heated, it was like it could sense where it was, knowing that it was about to enjoy some of the most fantastic pleasure imaginable, that Haley was sure it was a sin just to be thinking of it. But she couldn't deny her body reacting the way it was, that would be one battle that just wasn't worth the energy in fighting. She stepped out of the cab and checked her phone before she walked inside, to check whether Nathan had text her about a room change, seeing that no text had been received and so she made her way into the lobby towards the elevators. She pressed the button that would take her to the top floor and waited patiently for the elevator to take her to her destination, all the while telling herself that she was just here to talk, to explain to Nathan what was going on.

She walked down the corridor to the suite that had become her and Nathan's little haven, their own little place in the world, where she could just loose herself in him. She quickly pushed those thoughts back out of her head though before that annoying voice could come back to taunt her. She eventually reached the suite and knocked on the door and waited for Nathan to answer it.

Nathan walked quickly to the door and opened it just as fast, smiling at Haley as his eyes swept appreciatively over her body. She was dressed in a tight fitting black dress which went down to her knees and had teamed it with some high heels, her hair was held up with a clip and to Nathan, she really was the most beautiful, the sexiest girl in the world. "Hey you." He said with a grin when his eyes landed back on her face.

Haley looked back into those amazing eyes and found herself completely hypnotised by him. How he had such a hold over her, how he caused her to turn to complete and utter mush was just something that would remain one of life's great mysteries. She could already feel her legs turning to jelly as her own eyes swept down his face to his lips which she longed to kiss. She forced her gaze down his body, he was dressed in a black suit with a blue shirt and tie, and she could see the outline of his arm muscles as he leant against the door, which just had her wanting to rip his clothes off him and take him there in the corridor. She managed to push her gaze back up his body, finding his lips again, subconsciously sweeping her tongue over her own lips as her eyes locked with his again. She couldn't remember the reasons why she had come here; all she could think about was the need to have him… now.

She held out her hand and pushed Nathan back into the room, closing the door behind her with her foot and then grabbed a fist full of his shirt, pulling him back towards her as her lips connected hungrily with his. She forced her tongue into his mouth, not bothering to wait for his mouth to open, she was far too impatient, and she smiled against his lips when she heard a moan escaping from his lips when her tongue found his. Her hands had snaked their way around his neck and her fingers were already tangled in his hair, pushing his lips harder onto hers, wanting to deepen this kiss as much as was possible.

Nathan didn't even have time to think, that was how quick her attack on him had been, and he wasn't even sure what he needed to be thinking about anyway, he was far too lost in what her tongue was doing to his, at what her hands were doing in his hair and at how amazing the feel of her breasts rubbing up and down his chest felt. His own hands were rubbing along her back, holding her closer to him.

Haley's lips disconnected from Nathan's, she needed to catch a breath but that didn't stop her mouth moving hotly over his skin, down his jaw to his neck. She let her tongue lick its way further down his neck, until she nearly reached the collar of his shirt and so ended her trail with a hot, wet kiss, before licking along his skin to just below his ear where she sucked down on his neck, her hands moving from his hair down his chest, removing his suit jacket from him before bringing her hands back around to his chest, until she started playing with his tie.

Nathan leaned his head back, allowing Haley all the access she needed to continue what she was doing. He didn't care if he ended up with a hickey the size of a small country, it was worth it when her mouth felt this good, the way her tongue was moving across his skin reminded him of the way her tongue had played with the tip of his cock last Friday, before her mouth moved all the way down his long, hard length. "Shit, Haley." Nathan moaned as he felt her begin to walk them both further into the room, her mouth still attached to his neck as they turned the corner and went into the bedroom, feeling Haley reach her hands up to undo his tie, and then she pushed him down on the bed.

Haley knew she was acting like a sex crazed animal, but she didn't care, she needed Nathan, and now that she had his tie in her hands, she could make things a little more interesting. She grinned mysteriously at him as she climbed onto the bed next to him, crawling up it with the tie still in her hands, until she reached the pillows and looped the tie around the bed pole. "Hands." Haley demanded as she held her own open for Nathan to place his in, which he did with a raised eyebrow and an incredibly sexy look on his face. Haley grinned back at his just as sexily as she tied his hands together above his head, making sure that his tie was strong enough to hold his arms in place.

Once Haley was satisfied that she had tied his hands up strongly enough she crawled back down the bed until she got to Nathan's waist, holding his gaze with hers as she hitched her dress up her thighs so that she could straddle him. She leaned down so she was just hovering about his lips, she could feel his breath on her face, and it was almost her undoing but she managed to regain her control, just as Nathan struggled underneath her and tried to lean up so that he could kiss her, but she was too quick for him.

"Hales." Nathan groaned out in frustration, although the whole tying him up was sexy, he knew he was going to get annoyed that he couldn't touch her very quickly.

Haley just smiled sexily at him as she held his gaze, leaning back down to his neck, licking her way down until she reached his collar, her hands moving to start undoing his buttons on his shirt, kissing every inch of his skin that was exposed by her actions until she got to his trousers, her hands making quick work of undoing his belt and the buttons on them, before pulling them off his body. She kissed her way back up his leg, looking up and seeing his erection straining through his tight boxers, feeling herself getting wetter from the thought of what was waiting for her.

Nathan felt her kisses move to his stomach again, flinching slightly from the light way her mouth was tickling him, moaning as she moved further up his chest, her hands just above where her head was, now pulling his shirt from his shoulders, exposing more skin than before. Her mouth moved again to his cheek, peppering kisses all over his face, anywhere but his lips. He was getting increasingly agitated, he wanted to taste her again but she was making it near impossible. He waited patiently for his chance to kiss her lips, spotting an opportunity as she tried to move to the other side of his face, his mouth reaching out to capture her lips with his.

Haley moaned when she felt Nathan's tongue barge into her mouth, and she knew she was powerless to stop her mouth from kissing him back. Her mouth moved hotly over his as she pushed him back down into the mattress until she remembered that she was the one with all of the control, and so pulled away slightly from his kiss, sucking on his bottom lip before biting down on it.

Nathan opened his eyes when he felt her move off him, wondering where she was going. He moaned when he saw her move off the bed but then quickly shut up when he saw her hand reach to the back of her dress, pulling down the zipper and wiggling out of it, exposing her lacy, black underwear. _Fuck was she hot. _He thought to himself as his eyes wandered hungrily over every inch of her, taking in her every curve, his eyes following each and every one of her body's contours, before resting on her eyes, which were calling to him, she looked so damn sexy.

Haley smiled as she crawled back onto the bed; it was so much easier to move without her dress ridden up to her waist. She lowered herself down onto his boxers, grinding her body into him, smiling at the moans she was eliciting from Nathan's mouth due to her actions. His eyes stayed locked on hers until Haley moved her hands to behind her back to unclasp her bra, loosening the material on her, but not taking it off. She reached her hands down to Nathan's bare chest and ran her fingernails up and down it licking her lips as her gaze caught Nathan's again.

_Is she trying to kill me? _Nathan thought to himself as he looked into her eyes, wanting to see if there was any truth to his thoughts. _Why the hell hasn't she taken the damn bra off? _He thought. He could see how loose the thing was on her, and he couldn't take it anymore, he wanted, he needed to see her breasts. "Take it off." He commanded.

Haley smiled and did as he asked, pulling the bra off her body, exposing her breasts to him, throwing it onto the floor.

"Fuck Haley, you're so beautiful." Nathan said as he stared at her in pure wonderment, his eyes running up and down her body again.

"So are you baby." Haley said as she placed a kiss on his chest and moved her body off him, peeling her black panties off her body and throwing them onto the floor too, before crawling back onto him.

Nathan growled when he felt her bare centre grind into him this time, he could feel some of her wetness on his boxers, his cock straining through the bastard material to get through to her. He started wiggling around underneath her, wanting to press his body into her more than she was doing, but it was useless, every time he leaned up, she would lean further away from him. "Damn it Haley." Nathan mumbled as he looked into her eyes, pleading with her to untie him, even though he knew it would do no good.

Haley shook her head as she looked back at Nathan, dropping her gaze to her breasts as her hands moved slowly up her stomach.

Nathan instantly dropped his gaze when Haley did, wondering what she was looking at. His eyes grew wide as he watched her hands move at a torturous pace up her stomach, travelling ever so slowly towards her breasts. He waited for her hands to reach them, watching in surprise as both her hands crept over her breasts as she started massaging them. "Haley." Nathan moaned huskily, he longed to touch her, he needed to touch her, but she just ignored him.

Haley moved her hands so that she could start playing with her hardened nipples, not forgetting to grind down into Nathan's hard cock as she did so, taking each nipple between her thumb and finger, and rubbing them together, before moving her right hand back down her body.

Nathan didn't know where to look, on the one hand, he wanted to continue watching what her left hand was doing to her breast, but he found that his eyes were watching the other hand that was travelling back down her body, he didn't know where the hell that one was going, he was curious. He watched as it went lower and lower, until she lifted herself off him slightly, and then pressed her middle finger down into her folds, Nathan watching with ever widening eyes as her finger slid down her slit and then back up again, resting on her clit, moving it around in a small circle, a light moan escaping from her mouth. "Haley." He tired again, trying desperately to get her attention, but she continued her actions again as if she hadn't heard him, her fingers moving back down her slit until she slid two of them inside of her. This time, Nathan groaned out loud. He knew what that felt like, it was fucking amazing and he was actually jealous of her fingers, he wanted his inside of her, he wanted his cock to be inside of her.

Haley heard him groan as she entered herself, a small smile playing on her lips. She loved how worked up he was getting, knowing that she was going to reap the benefits as soon as she was ready to untie him, which would have to be soon, she couldn't take his hands not being on her for much longer. She knew exactly what she wanted to do, just to drive him that little bit more crazy, and so she moved her fingers in and out of herself a couple more times, coating them with her juices, before pulling her fingers out, bringing them slowly up to her mouth, and licking them with her tongue.

Nathan had had enough; he was going to rip the tie if she didn't untie him right this second, either that or break the bed pole. "Haley, untie me now." He said huskily, watching as her tongue continued to lick her fingers clean, moaning again knowing exactly what that tasted like.

Haley licked her lips once she had finished with her fingers and then reached up to untie his hands; the second they were free Nathan grabbed her waist and flipped them around so that he was on top of her, she screamed a little in the process, being taken by surprise, giggling at how irritated he was getting with his boxers that he was trying to get off his body while trying to shake his shirt off at the same time.

"Oh you think that's funny do you?" Nathan asked once he had managed to shake his clothes off his body, grabbing her waist again as he leant on his knees, bringing her closer to him, before throwing both of her legs over his shoulders and thrusting into her quickly.

"Fuck Nathan!" Haley screamed as he entered her, she could feel his hard cock pushing into her and she closed her eyes, letting the pleasure over take her as Nathan pumped his way in and out of her at a furious pace, his hands moving to her ass as Haley rocked her hips in time with his thrusts.

Nathan was so turned on, he knew he wasn't going to last long, so he concentrated his actions on making sure that he hit Haley in all the right places, bringing one hand around to her front to start rubbing her clit, hoping that this would speed up her orgasm, which judging by the increased rate of her breathing, seemed to be working.

Haley could feel her orgasm building, and knew that she had to release it soon, the pressure was beginning to become too much. She cried out Nathan's name as she felt the first wave shake through her body, allowing her body to release the rest as she shuddered her way through it, moaning breathlessly when she felt Nathan spill his load deep inside of her.

Nathan rested inside of her, waiting for his breathing to slow down before he moved out of her, resting her body back on the bed, leaning over her to kiss her deeply before pulling out and rolling onto the bed next to her.

Haley rolled over and rested her head on his chest, smiling at herself at how amazing that had been, and it had been just sex, she told herself triumphantly, ignoring any signs from her head or her heart that she was wrong.

Nathan kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arm around her, when he remembered the present he had bought for her that was still sitting in his suit jacket. He jumped out of bed and walked around the suite trying to find his jacket.

"Where are you going?" Haley asked as she sat up in bed, watching as he walked out of the bedroom.

Nathan spotted his jacket on the floor and picked it up, walking back into the bedroom, smiling at Haley who was sitting up on the bed, still completely naked, still looking so beautiful. "Come here." He said as he stood away from the bed so she had room to stand.

"What for?" Haley asked as she crawled off the bed and stood in front of Nathan, confused as to why he had bought his suit jacket in here, was he planning on going somewhere or something?

"I have something for you." Nathan said as he reached into his inside pocket and pulled out the long, black box and handed it to Haley, placing it in her hands, smiling as he did so, he couldn't wait to see what she thought of it.

Haley looked down at the object Nathan had placed in her hands and took a deep breath. Why was he doing this? "What is this?" Haley asked.

"Just something I picked out for you. Open it." Nathan said, waiting eagerly for Haley to look inside.

Haley handed it back to him. "I can't accept this Nathan." She said, not looking him in the eye.

"Why not Hales?" Nathan asked, it was only a gift, if she didn't like jewellery then she could swap it for something else.

Haley sighed. "Nathan what is this?" She asked, gesturing between them both. "Because all I can offer you is sex. I have a boyfriend!"

Nathan smiled as he leaned it and kissed her cheek. "Baby, somehow I think even you know that this is more than sex."

"But it can't be Nathan, as I just said, I have a boyfriend." Haley repeated, she was desperately trying to make him see, make him understand, make him listen, but he continued kissing her cheek, moving down towards her neck.

"I know you do." He mumbled against her skin. "And I also know that he can't make you as turned on as I can, can he Hales?" Nathan said as he sucked onto that patch of skin on her neck that he knew got her all worked up. He heard Haley whimper as he continued his ministrations. "He can't make you scream out his name like I can, can he Hales?" Nathan mumbled again against her neck.

Haley sighed and closed her eyes. "No." She moaned before she opened her eyes the second Nathan pulled away from her neck, and watched as he looked intently into her eyes.

"Hales, this can be whatever you want or need it to be, but don't lie to yourself." He said as he opened up the box he had just given her, revealing a sparkling platinum diamond bracelet. "If you don't like it you can change it for whatever you want." Nathan said with a smile as he watched her eyes take in the gift.

Haley could feel the inner conflict start again, and she knew that she was lying to herself if she thought that what was going on between her and Nathan was just sex, but she had needed to hear it from him, it was funny how hearing it from him sat so much better with her than when Peyton had said it, he made everything seem like it was okay. She smiled back at him, and then looked back down at the bracelet. "It's perfect." She said as she leaned up on her tip toes and kissed him deeply.

**AN – Okay guys! There you have it! As I said, the reveal chapter is coming up soon! Let me know what you thought of that chapter by dropping me a review! And Happy Valentines Day for tomorrow!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN – Hey you guys! Thank you all so much for taking the time to leave the reviews for the last chapter! I love each and every one of you for doing so (Thanks also to Shelley and Maria who reviewed but don't have an account so I couldn't respond to your reviews)! I thought you would all be pleased that Haley stood up to Tom (finally!) and that things seem to be developing a little bit more between Haley and Nathan.**

**And I bet you weren't expecting an update from me so soon huh?! Inspiration really seems to be really hitting with this story so I thought I would strike while the iron is hot as they say and get the next chapter written while it all seemed to flow!**

**I hope you all had a nice Valentines Day. My fiancé and I went to a basketball game together (the first one I have been to for the British Basketball League), and then went out for dinner to a lovely restaurant, one of my favourites, it was very yummy, and I also got the standard roses and chocolates which were gorgeous and very sweet of him! We would have gone away somewhere (last year he whisked me off to Rome, which was very romantic of him ;o) ) but what with saving for the wedding next year, I'd rather not go away and put the money we would have spent towards my wedding dress or something which is precisely what I have done! I started looking at them over the weekend, and there are so many gorgeous ones out there, but I have had a favourite ever since I got engaged so I'm just hoping that it actually suits me when I get around to trying it on! :o)**

**Anyway, enough about my life, and on with the story, I'm still not a hundred percent sure how soon the reveal chapter is, it depends how much I ramble with this and the next chapter… but it is soon, I promise (at the moment I'm thinking it's about three chapters away, so chapter ten but I don't want to say that for definite), as I said a couple of chapters ago, I really want to get to a certain point in the story before it all happens. So all that remains to say is that I hope you all enjoy reading this update! x**

**Chapter Eight**

Haley couldn't remember a time when she had felt this happy. She was lying wrapped up in the arms of the most amazing guy she had ever met and she had no idea how she had been so lucky as to find him. She let out an extremely content sigh as she snuggled in further to his chest, rolling her body so that she could get closer to him, laying her leg on top of his, as her hand snaked its way up his bare chest to rest on his shoulder, smiling to herself as she felt his own hand wrap tighter around her waist and squeeze her gently to him. She lay incredibly still, listening to the sounds of his slow and even breathing, her head rising and falling as his chest expanded and contracted in time with his breaths. She moved her hand back down his amazingly chiselled chest, her fingers slowly following the contours of his muscles, appreciating every single line he had, until the sparkling diamonds from her bracelet caught her eye. She rolled off his chest a little, so she was laying more on her back, although still leaning her head on his shoulder, and brought her hand up so she was holding it just above her face, her fingers tracing the pattern of the bracelet, looking at it in complete wonderment, it was simply beautiful, the most amazing present she had ever been given.

Nathan felt Haley roll off him a little and opened his eyes at the loss of his own personal hot water bottle, his chest suddenly feeling cold where she had left him. After he blinked a couple of times to get his eyes adjusted to the light in the room, he looked down and smiled at the sight he saw, Haley lying next to him, still completely naked from the previous night, as was he, with a huge smile on her face, looking at the bracelet he had given her last night. She looked absolutely stunning, his eyes travelled appreciatively up and down her frame as he took in all of her sensual curves, a slow smile spreading across his face as he did so. He leaned his head down and placed a kiss on her head. "You like it then?" He whispered.

Haley turned her head up so that she could look at him, staring into his gorgeous blue eyes, finding herself completely mesmerised by them yet again. "I love it Nathan, thank you so much for getting it for me." She murmured as she leant up to kiss him lightly on the lips, before settling back down in his arms, continuing to play with the bracelet.

"You are very welcome Hales, it looks lovely on you. I'm pleased you like it." Nathan returned as kissed her on the head again, before he glanced over to the clock on the bedside table, groaning when he saw the time displayed on it.

"What's wrong?" Haley asked after she had heard the groan Nathan had just let out, turning her head to look up at him again.

"The time. We need to make a move and get ready if you want time to get your coffee before work." Nathan muttered as he bent his face down to kiss Haley softly on the lips.

As soon as Haley felt Nathan's lips on hers, her arms wound their way around his neck, pulling him down closer to her, she couldn't help the fact that she was that enticed by him, that her craving for him was just too strong for her to deny, she couldn't not kiss him. She heard him moan as he wrapped her up in his own arms and pulled her on top of him. She pulled away and smiled sexily at him, watching as he did the same, that gorgeous smile he had lighting up his whole face, the one that she was sure she would never tire of seeing, before she leant back in to kiss him again, this time running her tongue along his bottom lip, needing to deepen the kiss, wanting to taste him.

Nathan opened his mouth willingly, feeling Haley's tongue slide its way into his mouth, feeling it connect with his tongue, before exploring his mouth and moaned again, tightening his hold on her, pushing her body down on his and then ran his hand up and down her still naked back. He pulled away, needing to catch his breath, smiling at her as he looked into her soulful brown eyes. "So I take it you don't want coffee this morning?" Nathan muttered as he leant up and kissed her again before pulling away, bringing his hand up to brush her hair out of her face and tucking it securely behind her ear.

Haley leant into him again, peppering his face with kisses, moving her way down his jaw, heading for his neck, where she continued to dot his skin with feather light kisses. "Oh no, I do want coffee, we can just be a little bit late today." She mumbled against his skin, smiling as she heard him moan sexily again, she loved the noises he made.

"Oh really?" Nathan said with a chuckle as he tightened his hold on Haley's waist, trying to still her movements a little as she was now rubbing herself against him and he knew that if she carried on, neither of them would get to work at all today, he could already feel himself getting hard. "And what is your excuse going to be for being late?"

"I'll tell the truth, I'll tell my boss that I was in bed with an incredibly sexy man, a man who was just far too irresistible for me to leave for the day." Haley said sexily as her kisses travelled even lower on his neck, until she reached his shoulder, managing to squirm just a little under Nathan's ever tightening grip on her waist, smiling against his skin as she felt him grow harder by the second underneath her.

"Mmmm." Nathan moaned when Haley's lips moved even further down his chest. "So now we are not just going to be late, but we're not going in to work at all?" Nathan asked. "Because unfortunately I have a diary full of meetings that I can't cancel now."

"Well that's no fun is it?" Haley said as she lifted her head from Nathan's stomach and crocked it to the side, running a seductive finger down his chest, biting down on her lip as she spoke again. "What I have planned for us would be far more fun than anything that's in your calendar, I can promise you that."

"Well I wish you would have told me earlier about these plans, and then I could have done something about these meetings." Nathan said as he smiled down at Haley who had leant back down to his stomach and continued her trail of kisses which was running in one direction and one direction only, south. He could feel his willpower deteriorating rapidly; she was making him far too relaxed and comfortable to even want to move. And then there was the fact that although he knew he had to get to work, he didn't want to, he would much rather spend the rest of eternity with Haley like this, let alone the rest of the day. His grip around her waist had loosened significantly, so much so that he wasn't even trying to restrain her now, what would be the point, he would lose that battle so quickly it wasn't even worth his effort in trying to stop her.

Haley had just moved her mouth past his belly button and was continuing her path of kisses even lower on his body. "It's too bad you can't rearrange those meetings." Haley said as she shifted her body further down Nathan's and grabbed his now hard cock with her hands, running her tongue over the tip as she looked up at him, seeing that his eyes were closed and his head was flung back against the pillows and she smiled at just how gloriously good looking he was as her eyes travelled from his face, down his incredible chest and abs, to his fucking fantastic cock that was still in her hands, she couldn't help herself, she knew he needed to get to his office, he was obviously very busy, but she wanted him, she couldn't help how she was feeling, she just needed him.

Nathan didn't know what the hell he was doing. He had one of his company's key clients coming into the office in about an hour, he was going to be ridiculously late as it was, and that was without taking into account shower time for both him and Haley, traffic and coffee that Haley wanted, and he needed, especially when he felt this relaxed, he needed waking up. He hadn't even prepared for the meeting, that was one of the things he had on his To Do list last night, he was going to do it once he got home, but that was before Haley called and distracted him, in a good way obviously, just like how being late for an incredibly important meeting because one of the sexiest girls in the universe was giving you a blow job, was such a good fucking way to be late, too good a fucking reason for him to be late. "Shit Hales." Nathan moaned as Haley moved his cock inside of her mouth, wrapping those delicious lips of hers around him, moving up and down his length. He turned his head to the side, his eyes still closed, concentrating on nothing but the way his cock was feeling inside of her mouth. He opened his eyes slowly, only to find the time glaring him in the face; it was like the hours displayed on the fucking thing were one big reality check. He couldn't be late; he just couldn't, no matter how much he wanted to be. "Hales baby?" Nathan said softly, not wanting to hurt her feelings at all, because what she was doing felt so fucking amazing, he just needed to be at work.

"Mmmm?" Haley mumbled as she moved his cock out of his mouth, knowing exactly what he was going to say, kissing her way back up his stomach and chest, before eventually getting to his mouth. "You need to be at this meeting don't you?" She asked, before he could say anything.

"I do, I really wish I didn't have to be, but I do. It's one of my company's key clients and he is a total bastard when I'm on time, so I can only imagine the shit he is going to pull when I turn up late. I'm sorry babe." Nathan said with a sigh, still not wanting to move, wanting to keep her on top of him for as long as possible.

"It's okay, nothing to be sorry about." Haley said as she kissed him on the lips quickly, before moving off him slightly. "What time is the meeting?"

"It's at nine." Nathan said with another heavy sigh as he looked at the clock and saw that it was already ten past eight. However, he wasn't sighing at the time, he was sighing at the fact that Haley was now moving towards the edge of the huge bed, and was no longer wrapped up in his arms.

"Well come on! Let's get ready then! I don't want you to be late for your meeting Nathan." Haley bossed as she stood up and made her way towards the bathroom. "If we leave in twenty minutes, we can still get to work in time to grab a take out coffee."

Nathan smiled at her from his position on the bed. "I was expecting a little more persuasion from you to get me to stay here a little longer." Nathan replied with a raised eyebrow. "Maybe I'm losing my touch; perhaps I'm not that irresistible after all?" Nathan pondered teasingly.

"You, Mister, know that you are far too irresistible for your own good." Haley called from where she was in the bathroom. She moved back towards the bedroom and leaned her head around the door. "Now stop fishing for compliments and get that sexy ass out of bed." She said with a smile, before continuing to get herself ready.

~*~

Nathan sat in his car, looking out of the window, watching the world go by with his hand stretched out behind Haley's back as she laid her head against his shoulder. He didn't know how but somehow they had managed to make it out of the hotel room in fifteen minutes, and were rapidly making their way towards Wall Street, and it seemed the traffic was being kind to them this morning. He turned his head and looked down at Haley, who was quietly playing with her bracelet. He smiled at the sight of her, thinking about how happy she made him. He kissed her lightly on the head. "What are you thinking about Hales?" He whispered to her.

Haley sighed contentedly. "I was just thinking about how lucky I am." Haley said as she smiled up at Nathan. She knew that after last night, things had changed between her and Nathan, and despite her previous thoughts about what this whole relationship was about, she knew it was more than sex, and she knew that Nathan thought it was more than sex. That changed things. But she couldn't think about what that meant for them both just yet, she was far too happy to start thinking about any important decisions that she needed to make. And besides, it wasn't like she was talking to Tom at the moment anyway. She much preferred to live in this state of complete denial. When she was alone with Nathan in their hotel room, it was like the outside world just didn't exist, they were lost in their own little bubble. They were alone, together and everything seemed absolutely perfect. And that was how she wanted things to stay for as long as possible. She continued fiddling with her bracelet, and then her eyes travelled down to her clothes as she let out a sigh. "I'm also thinking about trying to come up with a decent excuse as to why I am wearing the same clothes as yesterday," She said as a couple of incredibly stupid excuses ran through her head, and she instantly dismissed what she was coming up with, shaking her head at herself.

Nathan smirked at her. "What happened to telling the truth Haley?" Nathan teased as he moved his arm that was around her shoulder so he could touch her face with his hand and turn it up towards him, placing a light kiss on her lips.

Haley smiled back at him as she pulled away slightly. "And what truth would that be Nathan?" Haley asked with a raised eyebrow.

Nathan's eyes moved to the right before he fixed his gaze back onto Haley's face. "Well, the whole, you were in bed with an incredibly sexy man thing?" Nathan said huskily as he leant back in to kiss her again on the lips, running his tongue over her bottom lip, trying desperately to deepen the kiss.

Haley smiled at him and shook her head as she pulled away from his kiss. "Oh really?" She teased. "You're a little full of yourself this morning aren't you?"

Nathan smirked back at her. "Always, and how can I not be full of myself when I've just spent the whole night with you." He replied as he leant back to her and kissed her again, running his tongue swiftly over her bottom lip, sliding it into Haley's mouth once she parted her lips a little.

Haley pulled away from his kiss breathlessly just in time to feel the car stop, and as she looked out of the window, she could see that they had reached Starbucks on Wall Street. They both stepped out of the car and walked into the coffee shop, Nathan ordered their coffees to go, handing Haley her latte before they stepped out onto the busy street.

"I wish I didn't have to go." Nathan smiled as he looked around from left to right, just checking to see if anyone was watching them, seeing lots of people who seemed totally engrossed in getting to their offices, and seeing that no one in particular was watching him and Haley, before leaning in to place a quick kiss on Haley's lips.

"I wish you didn't have to go too." Haley said back as she smiled, before taking a sip of her latte, unsure of what else to do.

"Okay, well I'd better go." Nathan said as he continued to stay rooted to the spot, really not wanting to leave her, he didn't know when he would see her again, and he hated that.

"Okay, me too. I'll see you soon." Haley said as she started moving towards him, needing to travel in the direction she was facing in to get to the office, knowing that Nathan needed to walk past her to get to his. She hated their goodbyes, they were so uncertain, she didn't know what to say, she didn't know when she would see him again, she didn't know when he was free to see her, and she didn't feel like she could ask, especially as he wasn't her boyfriend.

Nathan started to move past Haley too, smiling at her as he did so. "Call me soon okay?" He said quietly when he walked past her, placing another kiss on her cheek, before rushing down the busy street to the office, praying that his client would be running late this morning to give him a couple of minutes to get things sorted for the meeting.

~*~

Peyton sighed again as she heard that annoying humming that had been coming from the general direction of Haley the whole morning. She peered around her shoulder, staring at her, wondering what had made her so peachy this morning. She watched as Haley walked over to the post room, heard her laughing along with the grumpy post room man that most people would ignore if you didn't want your head bitten off about whatever had made him depressed and angry that day, and then she came breezing out of the room, practically skipping as she continued back towards her desk. As she walked past Peyton's desk, Peyton glared at her, forcing Haley to stop humming as she turned to look at her. Peyton searched Haley's face for a clue as to what had changed in one night, especially given how sullen she had seemed yesterday, but was just met with a beaming smile from Haley. "Coffee?" Peyton asked, interested to find out what was going on with her this morning.

"Sure, just let me drop these letters on my desk and then we can go." Haley replied before skipping towards her desk, placing the post on it and then skipping back to Peyton, who was shaking her head at Haley.

Five minutes later, Haley found herself sitting down in the cafeteria with Peyton looking at her like she had grown a second head or something. She bought her hand up to her hair, checking that she didn't have a major hair disaster on her hands, flattening down her hair just in case it was that, but once she was sure her hair was fine, she looked at Peyton who was still staring at her strangely. "What?" Haley asked eventually, not understanding what the silence was about, or the weird stares Peyton had been throwing at her ever since they had sat down. She really had no idea what she had done.

"What happened?" Peyton questioned once she realised that she wasn't going to get any answers as to what was going on by just staring at Haley, she would need to actually throw some words out there.

"What do you mean 'what happened'?" Haley threw back, perplexed at what Peyton was going on about now as she took a sip of her coffee, waiting for Peyton to explain what she meant.

"You?" Peyton started. "What's with the sudden change of mood? Yesterday it was like the whole world was going to end, and now, now… you've been humming all damn morning and the whole chirpy thing is kind of getting annoying."

Haley giggled as she bought her latte up to her lips again, took a sip, swallowed and then giggled again as she placed the cup back on the table, remembering how perfect last night had been with Nathan, glancing at the bracelet that she wore, the one that he had given her, the one that was so amazingly gorgeous, it sparkled and everything! She didn't think she would ever get bored of the way it glimmered in the light; it really was her brand new, shiny toy.

Peyton's eyes grew wide as she took in this version of Haley, one that could only be described as a giggling schoolgirl. Ever since Haley had started work here, she had never really seen her this happy. She wondered what she was daydreaming about now, when she followed her gaze down to her wrist, gasping at the expensive jewellery that sat on it, jewellery that hadn't been there yesterday. She yanked Haley's wrist over to her side of the table and stared at the jewellery. "This is it isn't it, this is the reason that you have been humming all morning isn't it?" Peyton asked, still gawping at the bracelet that was on Haley's wrist.

Haley raised both her eyebrows. "Hmmmm." She said casually. Yes the bracelet made her happy but that wasn't the reason why she had been so giddy this morning, the reason for her behaviour was the man who was behind the jewellery, the amazing, sexy, gorgeous man that she had been lucky enough to meet, let alone get to sleep with, daydream about constantly…

"And I take it this wasn't from Tom, no?" Peyton questioned, just to clarify her thoughts.

Haley yanked her wrist away from Peyton like her words had burnt her. "Of course it's not from Tom. I haven't spoken to Tom since Saturday. And he would never get me anything like this; he hasn't given me so much as a bunch of flowers since we have been together." Haley bitched.

Peyton's mouth dropped open, she never thought she would be defending the ass, well the ass from what she had heard from Haley, but she felt reason to at this point. She shook her head at Haley as she grabbed her other hand. "He never gets you anything? So he didn't buy you a ring?" Peyton said as she pointed down at the engagement ring Haley was wearing on her left hand. "He didn't send you the biggest bunch of flowers I have like, ever seen the other week, no?"

Haley interrupted Peyton before she could continue, not wanting to hear anything other than bitching about Tom at the moment, after all, that was what he deserved after the way he had been treating her. "That was different. The flowers were an apology for, surprise, surprise, Tom being an ass. And the ring, well he proposed, of course he gave me a ring. What I meant was, he hasn't given me anything just because, you know, for no reason other than the fact that, I don't know, he was thinking about me or something." Haley shrugged, smiling again as she looked down at the bracelet.

Peyton shook her head again at Haley, at how naive she seemed to be being. "And you don't think that coffee shop guy wants anything from you in return for this bracelet?" Peyton asked, wondering how Haley could be so stupid as to think he had given it to her for nothing other than the reason that he may have thought that would look nice on her.

"Of course I don't think he wants something from me in return, he's not like that Peyton, he's just… I don't even think they have invented words to describe what he's like Peyton, he's just amazing." Haley gushed, her thoughts travelling back to last night again, and this morning, thinking about how perfect he was.

"Haley! Wake up!" Peyton cried out. "How can you think that he doesn't want anything back for that?" Peyton said as she threw an accusing finger at the bracelet. "He wants you Haley; he wants you to break up with Tom."

Haley glared at Peyton following her sudden outburst. "It's not like that Peyton." Haley said, growing increasingly frustrated at Peyton's attitude, finding herself suddenly fiercely protective of her relationship with Nathan, not wanting to tarnish it in anyway. It was perfect as it was, and Nathan understood the way things were, he accepted the situation they both found themselves in. "This isn't some kind of bargaining chip, Peyton." Haley snapped as she thrust her wrist towards Peyton.

"And how do you know that?" Peyton said a little more softly, she didn't want to piss Haley off, and it was clear that Haley was happy about what was going on with Nathan, but she just wanted her to be aware of the fact that she was juggling two relationships, and she was engaged to one of the men that she was seeing, she wanted her to be aware that this couldn't go on forever.

"I know because he didn't ask for anything, Peyton!" Haley snapped back. She didn't know what her problem was but she was really starting to piss her off. "You know what Peyton, I didn't ask for your expert opinion on any of this okay, so why don't you just back off." Haley finished as she stood up to leave, slamming her chair back underneath the table before starting to make her way past Peyton, ready to head back upstairs, wanting to get away from her.

Peyton moved quickly and grabbed Haley's hand, stilling her march. "Haley I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry." Peyton said. "Please sit back down."

Haley stopped walking and turned to face Peyton slowly, before letting out a sigh as she sat down quietly, not saying anything, just taking a sip of her latte, waiting for Peyton to speak.

Peyton watched as Haley waited for her to say something, considering what she was going to say to her very carefully. "Haley if you don't want me to talk about this then just say so okay? It's your deal, you know, you can do what you want, I'm just trying to offer you some friendly advice, that's all, trying to give you another perspective, maybe one that you hadn't thought of before." Peyton explained.

"I know. I'm sorry I keep snapping your head off about this. I guess you are the only person who is actually making me think about my actions. And I don't even let myself think about what I'm doing most of the time." Haley admitted quietly, throwing a confused glance at Peyton, hoping that she understood why she got like this.

"Well, as I said before Haley, it's your deal." Peyton said, completely understanding why Haley just wanted to allow herself to see only the good side to all of this, understanding why she was trying her best to keep herself immune from the reality of it all. "If you want an opinion on something, then just ask, and I'll try to be as honest as I can be."

"Thanks Peyton." Haley replied. "I really appreciate that." And she did. She knew that this was far from the fairy tail it seemed, she knew that her actions were attracting some pretty big punishments and she knew that she was going to end up hurting one, or two, or even three people by doing what she was doing, the problem was, Haley didn't know what to do about even a little bit of it, let alone all of it. It was all one big, fat, jumbled mess, which is precisely the reason why she blocked it out of her head. Denial is such a wonderful thing.

~*~

Haley had only just sat down at her desk, returning from her coffee break with Peyton, when Lucas came breezing out of his office.

"Haley, can you print off the presentation for the merger you did for me yesterday please? I'm running through it with my brother over lunch in ten minutes." Lucas asked as he waited by the edge of Haley's desk for her to print it out.

"Sure." Haley returned as she went to find the presentation on her computer, before printing it out once she had found the right one. She couldn't help that after her conversation with Peyton, Nathan's real intentions were being questioned in her mind. She questioned why he had given her the bracelet in the first place, wondering if he really did want something back in return. But surely he would have said something before giving it to her if he did want something? She quickly dismissed the thoughts though; she had been right with what she had said to Peyton. Nathan just wasn't like that.

Lucas watched as Haley walked towards the printer, obviously in deep thought. He had seen her walking joyfully around the office earlier, and was about to take the plunge and tell her about Nathan being the owner of her penthouse today, but it looked like he had been saved from delivering the bad news by her sudden change of mood. He didn't want to upset her, he didn't want to lose her as his secretary, she was too good for him to not want to keep her, so he decided that the news could wait for a better time, knowing that Nathan would be kicking his ass if he could see him right now, see that he was backing down from an opportunity to tell her the truth so that he could start using the apartment again.

Haley walked back over from the printer with two copies of the presentation in her hands, placing them in Luke's waiting ones. "Here you go. Have fun at lunch." Haley said as she moved to sit down on her chair.

Lucas took the presentations from Haley, noticing the bracelet she was wearing on her wrist. "That's nice Haley." Lucas said as he pointed at the bracelet. "Did Tom get you that?" He asked, he hadn't seen it before and so presumed that it was new.

Haley could feel her face flame up, she hadn't expected Lucas to notice it, and she thought men were supposed to be immune from noticing things like that, along with new hairstyles and new clothes. She knew she was getting flustered and so decided to speak quickly. "Erm… this thing?" Haley asked as casually as she could muster as she shook her wrist, letting the bracelet jangle around on her arm. "No, Tom didn't get it for me, I've had it ages."

"Oh, well it's very nice." Lucas complimented, not thinking that anything was wrong with Haley at all. "Thanks for printing these out for me, hopefully he likes it!" Lucas said as he walked back into his office, grabbed his coat and headed out to lunch with Nathan, knowing fore well that if things went his way, the presentation would be ignored and they would spend the entire lunch talking about this new woman he had found.

Lucas walked into the restaurant, seeing Nathan already seated at the table they usually ate at, jabbering away on his phone to someone, probably a client. Lucas sat down quietly, giving Nathan a nod hello, as he placed the presentations underneath his chair, hoping that Nathan would forget all about them. As soon as he heard Nathan closing the call, Lucas got ready to pounce with his questions. He watched as Nathan pulled the phone away from his ear, and just as his finger connected with the red button he started. "So, you feel brave enough to tell me who she is yet?" Lucas teased.

Nathan placed his phone on the table and looked at Lucas with a very confused expression on his face. "What the hell are you on about Luke; I thought we were here to run through the presentation?" Nathan asked, wondering where the hell the presentation was given that he couldn't see it on the table.

"The mystery woman! There is no way you are telling me that you've found someone and then just hang up on me without saying anything more on the subject. Forget about the presentation for now and spill the beans!" Lucas said excitedly.

Nathan chuckled at Luke's sudden interest in his love life, well, if he was honest he couldn't blame him really, in the past three years, his love life had been practically non-existent. "You're acting like this is the hottest gossip around or something!" Nathan teased.

"Dude, it is, Nathan Scott and a woman, who would have thought it?!" Lucas mocked his brother before changing his tone. "Seriously, start talking."

"It's hardly like news of the century Luke! Why are you so interested in my love life anyway? Not got anything interesting going on in yours or something?" Nathan teased back with a raised eyebrow, knowing that there was no way he was going to let Luke get away with taunting him about this without him getting a little teasing back in return.

"Dude, this is what marriage does to you. Seriously, nothing interesting ever happens in my life anymore." Lucas sighed, before quickly adding. "Don't you dare tell Brooke I said that though, she would kill me."

Nathan chuckled. "Yes she would." He added, finding himself suddenly a little wary about what to tell Lucas, wondering whether he should divulge any information about Haley, and if so, how much. He knew that the minute he knew that she had a boyfriend he would get all sceptical on him, question what he was doing with her, question her motives for being with him, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to deal with that right now, not when everything seemed to be going so well between him and Haley at the moment, he didn't want anything to disrupt that, or get him even thinking otherwise.

"So come on Nate, I'm literally dying here!" Lucas said, pleading with Nathan to release at least a little bit of information about this woman. He looked at his brother's face properly for the first time since he had sat down, noticing how much more relaxed he seemed, how much happier he looked, he looked healthier than he had done a couple of months ago, that was for sure, so he knew that this new relationship must really be something else if it got him looking that good and he wanted to hear about it!

"I don't know what to tell you to be honest!" Nathan said, and he really didn't, a thousand different thoughts were running through his head, most of them thinking about how amazing Haley was, and whether he would even be able to do an ounce of justice to the way she had been making him feel lately with words, for he didn't think any word that was in his vocabulary could explain just how much he liked her, wanted her, craved her.

"Well what's she like?" Lucas probed, wanting to get the conversation started. He knew how hard it was usually for Nathan to get all emotional and talk about his feelings, it was going to take a lot of work from Lucas to get anything out of him at all, but he was going to damn well try, this was far too good for him to ignore.

"She's… I don't know Luke, she's just amazing." Nathan gushed, a smile coming across his face as he started talking about Haley. "She's everything I could ever want in a woman, sexy as hell, beautiful, she makes me laugh, and she's just perfect."

Lucas shook his head as he took in his brother's face, never thinking in a million years that he would ever see him this way. "You're totally gone on her!" He said with a smile on his own face.

"I am." Nathan chuckled. "Who would have thought it? Me, totally gone on a girl?" Nathan shook his head at how pathetic he was being, but it felt nice, it felt good to actually care about someone other than himself, he had done what he had set out to do, since he had turned twenty five, he had decided to calm down and wait for the right person to come along, and now here he was three years later having found her. And it felt amazing for him to be thinking things like that.

Lucas smiled again at his brother, but still wanted more than just a description of how wonderful she was, there were so many questions that he wanted answers to. "So how long have you known her?" Lucas asked.

Nathan took a deep breath, not wanting to lie to Lucas about this, but just praying that he wouldn't put two and two together, given that he knew that Brooke had told him about Haley, or, 'coffee shop girl' as they had so fondly called her. "I don't know, about three, maybe four months." Nathan replied, not quite looking Luke in the eye as he did so.

Lucas' brow was knit in confusion. If Nathan had been seeing this woman for four months now why hadn't he said something about her earlier? Why had he kept it all a big secret? He sifted through his mind, trying to remember any sort of hint that Nathan had given about seeing someone new, when he gasped. "It's the coffee shop girl, isn't it?" Lucas asked in horror.

_Oh shit. _Nathan thought to himself. That was exactly why he didn't want to have this conversation with Lucas right now. He could see the look that he was giving him right now, it was like he was mad or something. He blew out a long breath before answering his brother. "So what if it is?" He decided to try that route, hoping that the casual tone in his voice would rub off on Lucas too; he didn't want to have to deal with whatever opinion he was going to dish out about his relationship with Haley.

"The one who has a boyfriend?" Lucas questioned, wanting to clarify that point, wanting to make sure that Nathan understood it as well, he wanted to make him think about it again, make him question what the hell he was doing falling for someone who was already taken.

Nathan sighed, knowing that he should have kept his mouth shut. "Yes the one who has a boyfriend Luke." Nathan snapped at his brother, hoping that he would catch the 'back off or else' that Nathan silently threw out with his words.

Lucas knew that Nathan didn't want to talk about this, but he was worried about him, worried about what he was getting himself into. "Well then what the hell are you doing with her?" Lucas cried out, exasperated at his brothers latest antics.

"Lucas, I don't fucking know what I'm doing." Nathan bit back, running a hand through his hair before looking at him. "I'm just, I… I can't explain it Luke, we just click you know?" Nathan tried to explain, knowing that he words just weren't cutting it, that his words were not explaining the way he felt about her very well at all.

"And do you think she also clicks with her boyfriend too Nate?" Lucas snipped back, shaking his head. "How the hell can you be so fucking stupid? What do you think is going to happen? You think that she is going to leave her boyfriend for you?"

Nathan could feel his temper rising, and did his best to control it, taking a couple of slow, deep breaths before responding. "I don't know Luke, we haven't talked about it."

"And why the hell haven't you? You do know that you are getting yourself involved in a relationship that can't go anywhere, don't you?" Lucas interrupted. "What a fucking waste of time."

"Don't you dare say that Luke." Nathan roared, before realising that the whole restaurant had now turned to look at the argument he was having with his brother. He took another breath, before continuing at a lower volume. "What I have with this girl is not a waste of my time."

"It is if she doesn't leave him Nathan. What if she doesn't, where does that leave you? Have you even thought about it?" Lucas argued back. He didn't want to see his brother get hurt, he wasn't going to sit back and watch and do nothing to try to stop this mess, not when after three years of watching Nathan throw himself into the business and not letting anyone get in the way of that, for the first girl he finally cares about to do that to him. No way. "And what kind of relationship is it? I bet you never go anywhere together, keep it all a secret, that's not the way to be with someone Nate."

Nathan closed his eyes. This was exactly what he hadn't wanted to happen. He hadn't wanted Lucas to make him think of any of these things, Haley choosing the boyfriend for definite somewhere along the line and ending things with him, well it just didn't bare thinking about for Nathan, not when he knew that Haley was becoming more and more important to him every single day. He couldn't think about not being with her. "No I haven't thought about it Luke, because I don't want to. I know what I'm getting myself into, and all I can do is hope that she will realise that we are good together and leave him."

"Well I only hope for your sake that she does it soon Nathan. I can't believe that you have got yourself this involved with someone who is already taken. I just hope that she doesn't make a complete fool of you." Lucas said sincerely, hoping that his words would have a lasting affect on Nathan, and maybe help him decide to do what is best for himself, to get out of this relationship before she pulled him even further down with him. "You know the more you get involved in this Nathan, the harder its going to be to let go if she decides to stay with her boyfriend?"

Nathan gave his brother an incredulous look. "What kind of a thing to say is that Lucas? You think that I don't know that?" Nathan replied as he ran another hand through his hair, before banging his fist down on the table. "But what am I supposed to do? Just not feel anything for her? I can't not see her Lucas, she makes me happy, for the first time in a long time, I am happy. So what can I do, see her but not develop any kind of feelings for her? What kind of a way to live is that?"

Lucas looked Nathan in the eyes, knowing that he wasn't going to like what he was about to say, but he needed to say it, he needed to save his brother before he got even more tangled in this web, until he was suffocating from it and wouldn't be able break free at all.. "You need to let her go. Now."

Nathan looked up from the table where he had started playing with the cutlery and threw a hateful glare at his brother. "You know what Lucas. Fuck you for that. You obviously do not understand what I'm going through with this, how I feel about this. I cannot just let her go. She means too much to me for me to even consider doing that." Nathan said as he grew more and more frustrated with every word he was saying, eventually deciding that he'd had more than enough of Lucas' wise words for today and started to get up from the table, suddenly having lost his appetite. "And maybe she won't leave her boyfriend, maybe she will decide to not see me anymore one day, but at least what I have with her now means something to me. So keep your shitty comments to yourself okay because I have heard enough. I don't want to hear any more of your crap."

Lucas shook his head as he watched Nathan march his way out of the restaurant, practically bumping into tables and chairs as he did so. He should have known that Nathan would act like that eventually; in fact, Lucas was surprised that Nathan had allowed him to speak that much about it. He could only hope that it was because Nathan knew that what he was saying was true, that some part of what he had just said had really hit a nerve, and got him thinking about the mess that he was involved in.

~*~

The following day, Nathan sat at his desk with his head in his hands; the only thing that he was grateful for was the fact that it was Friday. He had been trying to block the crap that Lucas had said to him yesterday out of his head, but no matter how hard he had tried to do that, somehow the thoughts always seemed to worm their way back into his head. Haley had been texting him last night once she had finished work, and he had text back but he wasn't being his usual self, and she had picked up on that. They had their usual morning coffee this morning but Nathan had left early, saying that he had some preparing to do for some meetings he had during the day. She had also tried to call him at lunch but he had ignored her call, he didn't know what to say to her, not when he had all these thoughts running through his head. He didn't know how he would cope if she decided to end things with him, and he knew that what Lucas had said had been true, he needed to get out of this before he was in too deep. But there was a part of him that knew that it was too late already for him to save himself. He sighed as he picked up his phone and called her, he needed to see her, for he knew somehow that when he saw her everything would be okay. But he wanted to do something different with her, he was sick of them just spending time together in hotel rooms, he wanted to do something different, especially after what Lucas had said to him yesterday about keeping things a secret.

"Hi Nathan, are you okay? I tried calling you earlier but you didn't pick up?" Haley said as soon as she answered her phone, she had been worried about him, usually if he didn't pick up, he called her back pretty soon, but it had taken him a good six hours to call her back this time, and she wondered if something was wrong, if he was okay.

Nathan slumped back down into his chair. Just hearing her voice was making him feel a whole lot better and he smiled at that, knowing that when he saw her that everything would be fine again, Lucas' words wouldn't even so much figure in his thoughts. "I'm fine Hales. Sorry I didn't call you back, I just had a lot going on today."

"Don't worry, I'm just glad that you're okay, I was worried about you." Haley said sincerely, the smile creeping across her own face at just being able to talk to him again.

"Well no need to worry, everything's fine now. Have you got any plans tonight?" Nathan asked, hoping that she didn't as he desperately needed to see her, for his own sanity's sake.

Haley smiled again, pleased that she would be seeing him again tonight, she didn't know why but she really did miss him when she didn't spend time with him, like last night for instance, she had been totally bored out of her brains at having to spend the evening alone, and she wasn't looking forward to spending the entire weekend with her own company, so Nathan's call had come at just the right time. "I don't have any plans tonight." Haley answered his question. "Why, what did you have in mind?" She asked, expecting him to tell her to be at the hotel room in fifteen minutes, for that was their usual routine, and it was one that she enjoyed thoroughly.

"How about you and me go out somewhere?" Nathan asked, waiting anxiously for her reaction to the fact that he didn't just want to have sex with her tonight, and that he actually wanted to spend some time with her doing something else.

Haley was a little shocked at Nathan's suggestion, not sure what to make of it. "Where were you thinking?" Haley asked sceptically, wanting to know the full details of this evening before she agreed to anything, especially if it could mean going somewhere where someone she knew could see them both together.

"I don't know really, maybe dinner and a few drinks or something?" Nathan suggested. He could hear the conflict in her voice; he could tell that she wasn't one hundred percent sold on the idea. But he needed her to do this; he wanted her to show him that she was feeling enough for him to want to do things like this with him. If she said no to him, then Luke's words would just start to completely take over all of his thoughts, for by her not agreeing to this would be like some sort of confirmation that Luke was right, that this relationship really wasn't going anywhere at all.

Haley was conflicted yet again. On the one hand, she didn't want anyone to know about her and Nathan yet, so going out in public with him was risky. But she needed to see him, she could already feel her Nathan craving kicking in, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to wait until their Monday morning coffee to see him again, that would be torture on a level that she knew she wouldn't be able to handle. She took a deep breath, wondering what the hell he was doing to her, how she could need to see someone this much, how such a longing was even possible. "Sure, that sounds good Nathan." Haley eventually responded. "Where do you want me to meet you?" She asked.

Nathan let out a huge sigh of relief, instantly feeling a whole lot lighter. _She had said yes! _Nathan thought gleefully to himself, she was taking the risk of someone seeing them together, for him, and that meant that he really did mean something to her. "How soon can you be ready to leave?" He asked.

"I can leave now if you want." Haley replied, knowing that she was sounding desperate, but she needed to see him, she couldn't help it if she couldn't wait for him.

"Okay, shall we meet at Starbucks in five minutes?" Nathan asked.

"Sounds great, I'll see you in a bit." Haley returned as she started shutting down her computer, grabbing her bag and headed to the toilets, wanting to give her makeup a quick touch up before heading down to meet Nathan.

~*~

Nathan stood outside Starbucks, looking in the direction where he knew Haley would be coming from. He still had no idea what they were going to do tonight; he was just so excited that she had said yes in the first place. He racked him brain, trying to remember what he had said, something about dinner and drinks. He tried to think of a good restaurant for them to go to, when he saw her walking towards him. He instantly smiled as soon as he saw her; she looked stunning as always, even though all he could see of her was her jacket, her legs, which looked sexy as hell, and her shoes, which were black peep toe heels, accentuating her shapely legs. His gaze wandered down her body before he brought it back up towards her face, resting it there, the smile still spread across his face. "Hello you." Nathan said once she was close enough for her to hear him, walking towards her to close the gap, before placing a light kiss on her lips. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you Nathan." Haley responded before wrapping her arms around him, hugging herself to him. She breathed in deeply, smelling his sexy aftershave as she did so, feeling so much happier at being in his arms again. She pulled away and smiled at him. "So where do you want to go?" She asked.

"I don't mind, what kind of food are you in the mood for?" Nathan asked as he moved to the road and hailed down a cab, opening the door for Haley to climb inside.

They had eventually decided on Italian, Nathan directed the taxi driver to the best Italian restaurant he could think of. They had an easy meal, the conversation flowing freely between them, laughing about their working week, talking about their childhoods, both of them desperately avoiding talking about their relationship, where it was headed, what was going to happen, despite both of them having the questions at the forefront of their minds the whole time. They finished dinner and then Nathan walked them both down a couple of blocks to a member's only club that he belonged to, knowing that she would feel more comfortable in there as no one would know who she was.

"Can I get you a drink?" Nathan asked as he handed Haley the cocktail menu for her to look at, looking around the bar, seeing if anyone he knew was in tonight, and not spotting anyone familiar to him.

Haley looked at the cocktail menu, not knowing what the hell she wanted. She looked up at Nathan confused. "I thought ordering food at a restaurant was difficult!" She joked. "Why don't you get me a surprise?"

Nathan chuckled at her. "Okay sure."

Haley watched as Nathan ordered two drinks that she had never even heard of and cast her eyes over the very flashy cocktail bar she found herself in. She wondered how much money Nathan paid to be a member at this place, judging from the clientele it was a lot. She turned back to Nathan who was handing her the drink, before they made their way to a table along the back wall of the bar. She sat down and took a sip of the cocktail, fighting the urge to cough at how strong it was. "Nathan what the hell is in this? Is it just pure alcohol?" She asked, brining her hand up to her throat, trying to calm the burning that was going on inside of her.

Nathan laughed at her. "Pretty much." He replied honestly, it was her own fault; she shouldn't have let him order for her.

Haley put her drink down on the table and turned to face Nathan. "So are you trying to get me drunk then?" She teased, licking her lips of the alcohol that she could still taste on them.

Nathan watched as her tongue swept over her gorgeous lips and almost lost all of his self control then and there. He placed his own drink down on the table and kept his eyes locked on her lips. "Maybe." He replied huskily.

His voice sent a shiver down her spine, he always sounded so sexy, but there was something about the tone of that voice that just had her melting into a puddle. She couldn't help the surge of desire that rocketed through her whole body. She leaned into him and moved her head towards his ear, placing a light kiss just below it on his neck. "I don't need to be drunk to want you Nathan; I want you all the time, just like how I want you right now." She purred as she nibbled on his earlobe, hearing him speak her name in a low groan and then she moved her mouth back to his neck, kissing a path along his neck to his jaw, before travelling towards his lips.

Nathan forced his tongue into her mouth as his hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to him, moaning when he felt his tongue connect with hers. His hands moved up and down her back as she shifted herself so that she could be closer to him, he felt her hands tangle in his hair, pushing his mouth more forcefully onto hers. He pulled away breathlessly, but continued peppering her face in kisses, moving down to her neck, nipping and biting his way along to her pulse point, smiling as her light, breathless moans filled his ears. He could feel himself getting ridiculously hard and he needed her right now. He pulled away from her and took her hand, leading her through some double doors in the direction where he knew some meeting rooms were.

Haley quickly grabbed her bag and following Nathan, wondering where the hell he was taking her, but she was too full of excitement and anticipation to question him. If it had come to it, she would have let him take her right then and there in the bar, not caring about who was watching them. They walked through a second set of double doors, and once Haley was through them, she felt Nathan fling her against the wall, his body crashing into hers as she moaned out loud, his lips landing hot and heavy on her neck. He sucked down hard on the skin there, before licking his way down towards the edge of her short sleeved cardigan she wore as Haley leant her head back against the wall, pushing her body into him as hard as she could.

Nathan moved his mouth from her chest back up to her neck, kissing her hard. He heard her breathing increase in sharpness, becoming almost as laboured as his was. He was so turned on for her, he needed her, couldn't wait a second longer. He dragged his mouth back up towards hers; leaving a trail of hot, wet kisses as he did so.

Haley felt his lips connect with hers, and kissed him back hungrily. However, for some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about what Peyton had said to her yesterday about him. "Nathan." She said as she pulled away slightly, moaning when he moved his mouth back down to her neck. "Have…. Oh god…." She moaned. "Have you told anyone about us?" She got out quickly, before moaning again as his mouth moved down towards her chest.

"I told my brother." He said between kisses. "Why?"

"What does he think about this?" Haley asked breathlessly.

Nathan didn't want to talk about this, not now; he was far too engrossed in kissing her. He moved his mouth back up to her mouth, kissing her hungrily as his hands slid down her waist and lifted her legs, which she automatically wrapped around him. "I don't care what anyone thinks about us Hales." He said as he pulled away breathlessly. "All that matters to me is what I feel for you."

He was right. Of course he was right. All that mattered was how they felt about each other. "Me too." Haley said as she smiled at him before capturing his mouth with hers, kissing him with all the passion and desire she held inside of her.

Nathan pressed Haley back against the wall and moved his hands from her ass and brought them up her sides and started to undo the buttons on her cardigan quickly, stopping when he had enough of them undone so that he could see her bra. He grabbed the cup of the bra and lowered it so her breast was showing, before moving his mouth from hers and kissing his way down, eventually reaching her breast and taking her nipple in his mouth, sucking down on it, causing some light moans to fall from Haley's lips. He moved his hands back down to her ass as he moved them away from the wall, opening the door to one of the meeting rooms that was next to them, closing it shut with his foot once they were inside, while using one of his hands to ride her skirt up to her waist, hearing her let go of her bag which went crashing to the floor.

He placed her on the table which was in the centre of the room, breaking away from her kiss when he felt her start to push his jacket off his shoulders, and then unbutton his shirt. He smiled down at her, before attacking her mouth with his once more.

Haley made quick work of unbuttoning his shirt, quickly moving her hands to his belt buckle and then his trousers. She pulled them off his body, together with his boxers, when she felt Nathan push her back down on the table, and so she allowed him to lay her down slowly.

Nathan pulled away from her mouth and kissed his way down her neck towards her chest, as his hands pulled her body back towards him, before he reached up for the elastic of her lacy panties, which he peeled off her body, taking her shoes off her feet as he did so. "You are so gorgeous Haley." He muttered against her skin, his hands sliding down her legs, parting them as they travelled up towards her body so he could stand in between her.

Haley's breathing had increased in pace even more than before, probably because she knew what was coming, and she wanted it more than anything. "Nathan I need you." Haley said in a voice that was full of desire and longing.

Nathan couldn't deny such a demand, for he wanted her just as much as she wanted him, and so he moved his hard cock towards her entrance, thrusting inside of her wetness. Both of them moaned out together at the feeling of being so connected to each other again. He started moving in and out of her, his hands pushing her cardigan up her body so he could kiss her stomach as he felt Haley's hips meet his every move, and felt her legs wrap around his waist, pushing him deeper inside of her.

Haley threw her head back in pleasure, sex with Nathan was always amazing, no matter when or where they did it. She moaned out his name as his thrusts increased in pace, and she made sure her hips increased with it, wanting him to get as deep inside of her as he could. She felt his hand move towards her clit, and he applied pressure on it, moving his thumb around in circles on it, causing her to gasp at the way he was making her feel.

He could feel her clenching her muscles every time he entered her and it felt so fucking amazing. He could feel his orgasm building, and so increased the pressure and pace of his thumb on her clit, moving it around in faster circles, hearing her cry out his name as her own orgasm started to build.

Haley couldn't hold it off any longer, as much as she wanted to. "Nathan…" She moaned breathlessly when she felt the pressure on her clit start to lighten a little. "Harder." She called out, and he responded, with both his cock and his thumb. She moaned out as she felt her orgasm take over her body, her muscles clenching around his cock as she felt him spill his load inside of her.

Once his breathing had calmed down a little, Nathan moved out of her, leaning over her body to kiss her on the lips. "You're amazing." He whispered as he placed some of her hair that was hanging loose behind her ear, before placing another light kiss on his lips.

"So are you." Haley responded with a shy smile as he moved off her and pulled his boxers and trousers up his body, while handing her the panties he found on the floor next to him. She rolled them up and hopped off the table grabbing her bag and placing her panties inside of it, before standing up and straightening her skirt down her body, getting her bra sorted and doing up the buttons on her cardigan. She turned around to face Nathan who was staring at her with his mouth wide open. "What?" She questioned, wondering what he was staring at.

He gulped quickly, trying to recover from the shock at seeing her not put her panties back on. "Your panties." He managed to get out, while pointing at her bag.

Haley giggled as she realised what he was gawping at. "Well they are soaking wet baby. I'm not going to put them back on." She said casually, smiling at his reaction, which was priceless. "Come on, let's go and finish our drinks." Haley said as she grabbed Nathan's arm and pulled him out of the room.

Nathan allowed himself to be dragged out of the room but stopped walking once he realised what was going on. He pushed Haley back against the wall, as she looked at him in confusion. "Baby, there's no way I am going to be able to sit out there and finish my drink, knowing that you are going commando." Nathan said huskily as he leant back into her neck, sucking on her skin.

"Really?" Haley said with a raised eyebrow as she giggled. "So what do you propose we do then?"

Nathan pulled away from her, dragging her back into the room they had just left. "You know exactly what I want to do." He said as he captured her lips with his again before she could even begin to protest.

**AN – Okay guys, there you have it (that was a really long chapter, I think my longest yet!!)! I hope you all liked it! I think you can see how Nathan and Haley's relationship is developing now… and there was no Tom in that chapter too… (which I'm thinking is a good thing right?!). Let me know what you thought of it by dropping me a review – I love reading them! Also, I'm curious as to how you guys think the reveal will happen… I hope I surprise some of you at least with how it's going to play out; I've had that chapter in my head ever since I first thought of the plot for this story! Anyway, I'll be updating soon! x**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN – Hey guys! Thank you all so much for the reviews you guys all left me for the last chapter! I wanted to also say thanks to free2bme23, pufkinz, Shelley and Daize for leaving me a review, you guys don't have accounts so I couldn't respond to your reviews personally!**

**So sorry that it has taken me a while to update – work has been crazy the last couple of weeks, I have been going all over the country for meetings which has completely knackered me out – but I think that is all my travelling done now for a while – until I go to Canada in April I think..! My fiancé has also had a case of man flu this week... so I have been running around after him too which has been fun..!**

**But on a positive note – I tried on some wedding dresses this weekend! It was so exciting! I really like one of them but think I am going to try on a few more before I make the final decision, but the one I like goes really well with the colour theme we have chosen so I think it will probably be the one I choose. So yay for me!**

**Anyway... on with the story... I hope you all like this update! x**

**Chapter Nine**

Nathan heard his mobile ringing for the fifth time in the last two minutes. He knew it would be Luke calling him, for it had been Luke calling him the past four times his phone had rang, but he double checked anyway, just to make sure it wasn't Haley phoning him. He turned his phone over and glanced at the name flashing across the screen, seeing his brother's name displayed and groaned before cancelling the call. He knew he was late, but he had meetings he needed to prepare for, he was getting behind on his work and he needed to make up for some of the time that he had lost, so Lucas was going to have to be patient and wait. He wished he had a legitimate business reason for being so being so behind on his work, but he really didn't have one. He knew the exact reasoning for it though and he wasn't going to apologise or feel ashamed about it, especially as it was so far from being because of business reasons. Haley. He sighed contently at just thinking of her name, placing the pen he had been writing with back down on the table as the smile that seemed to always be evident whenever he thought of her spread across his face. He had no doubt in his mind that she was the single most important person on the planet to him, he felt like he would literally do anything for her, making sure that she was happy seemed to be the most important task of each day for Nathan, and it wouldn't matter if that was the nights that he was lucky enough to spend with her that he kept her happy, or if it were just in the half an hour morning coffee meet ups that he shared with her before work. If Haley was happy, then he was happy. It was as simple as that.

Nathan was snapped out of his thoughts of Haley by the ringing of his mobile... again. "Fucking hell Lucas!" Nathan muttered to himself as he picked up his phone from the table again, ready to cancel the call but glanced at the screen before his fingers touched the button... well it might be Haley calling. He looked at the screen and saw that the number had been withheld. He grinned at the possibility that the person on the other end of the phone might be Haley and so he answered the call.

"Oh so I see how it is Nate." Lucas' voice came screaming down the phone before Nathan even had a chance to say hello. "I call you five times and you ignore me but then the second I withhold my number you pick up. God I feel really loved."

"Shut up Luke." Nathan sighed as he picked up his pen and started to write down some agenda points for the meeting he had tomorrow, wishing that he had just cancelled the call instead of taking the chance that it could have been Haley calling him. "What are you calling for?"

"What do you think I'm calling about?" Lucas fired back. "We're supposed to be meeting up for drinks... half an hour ago. You're late."

"I know dude, I've just got to finish writing up agendas for my meetings, type them up and then I'll be there. I'm on the last one so I won't be long." Nathan replied as he continued writing points down on the piece of paper.

"Why don't you just type them up without writing them down?" Lucas asked. "Then you'd get it done in half the time."

"I prefer writing, I think better when I stare at paper rather than at a computer screen." Nathan responded without really paying attention to Luke, as he wrote down yet another agenda point that he needed to cover in his meeting tomorrow.

Lucas shook his head at his brother. He was weird, but that wasn't like it was something that he hadn't concluded about his brother before. "Whatever dude... just do it in the morning." Lucas said as if it was the most obvious choice for his brother to make, drinks or meeting agendas... he knew exactly which one he would choose.

"I won't have time in the morning." Nathan responded as he read over what he already had written down.

"Of course you will. Just get into work..." Lucas started but then stopped as he remembered. "But you can't get into work early can you? Because you need to see the coffee shop girl, don't you?!" Lucas teased.

"Shut up Luke." Nathan warned with a bit of a bite to his tone. After the last conversation he and Luke had shared about Haley, Nathan really didn't want to go down that path again. He was still a little pissed off about Lucas' understanding, or rather his lack of understanding, about the whole Haley situation.

"Hey don't worry Nate; I'm not calling to lecture you about anything." Lucas replied before smirking to himself, there really wasn't anything more fun to him than winding his brother up. "So what coffee shop do you guys meet at? I mean, she must be pretty amazing to have caught your attention for so long, maybe I'll check her out for myself one morning."

Nathan slammed hi s pen down on the table, Lucas now holding all of his attention. "You fucking dare go anywhere near her Luke..." Nathan started, his jealous side getting the better of him as he clenched his fists before taking a deep breath. "You're married... remember."

"So, doesn't mean I can't look." Lucas teased. "And she has a boyfriend... remember."

"Lucas I swear to God, if you don't shut the fuck up right now..." Nathan roared before being interrupted by Lucas' howling down the phone. He knew that he was winding him up, and he also knew that he was waiting for him in a bar. It really wasn't worth Nathan getting all fired up about it, as that was exactly what Luke had been trying to do. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed as he calmed himself down. "How much have you had to drink?"

"A couple of shots." Lucas answered once he had finished laughing at his brother's attitude, before almost falling off his chair, gripping the table to keep himself upright. "Shit."

Nathan heard Lucas almost fall off what he presumed was his chair and sighed. "Well don't drink anymore until I get there. We don't want you making any more of a fool of yourself than I'm sure you already have done." Nathan said as he closed his mobile, shaking his head at his idiot of a brother before placing the agenda he had written on his secretary's desk, she could type it up tomorrow morning, he had a brother he needed to control, either that or beat up.

~*~

An hour later, Lucas watched his brother from across the table as he downed another shot, slamming the glass back down on the table once it was empty and twisted his mobile around in his other hand. He hadn't put the phone away since he had arrived, he was constantly checking it, and his hand had always been on it since he had sat down. Lucas smirked at his brother's obvious waiting. "Expecting a call?" Lucas asked as he threw a glance down at Nathan's mobile which he had just stopped turning around in his hand at the mention of the offending item.

Nathan placed the mobile on the table and crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "Not really." Nathan returned as he kept a firm eye on his phone, just in case it started to ring, just in case Haley decided to call. He closed his eyes for a second, willing himself to be strong enough to not reach out and grab his phone, but he couldn't help it when his hand crept out from his loose grasp and grabbed his phone off the table and wrapped itself around it. He wasn't going to risk missing out on her call; he didn't want to miss out on the chance to spend the night with her. No way. His phone was going to stay locked in his grasp, he didn't care what grief Lucas was going to throw at him, it was worth it if it meant he got the chance to see her.

Lucas sniggered as soon as he saw Nathan's hand twitching as it rested on his arm which was flung loosely around his chest and all out burst into laughter when he saw Nathan's hand snake across the table and grasp his phone. "Bullshit. You're waiting for coffee shop girl to call, aren't you?" Lucas asked as he ordered two more shots from the waitress who just walked by their table.

"No I am not." Nathan answered quickly, trying to defend himself. He wasn't lying either, they hadn't made any plans, Haley hadn't said she was going to call... she just might do, that was all. And if she did he was going to make damn sure that he answered.

Lucas shook his head at his brother. "Whatever you say dude, but your hand hasn't left that phone ever since you got here. And then when I called you on it, even then you still couldn't keep it out of your grasp. Waiting for the booty call? Is that is?" Lucas asked.

Nathan shot a warning glance at his brother. "I told you already, it's not like that Luke. What I have with this girl is more than just a fucking couple of nights worth of sex, alright?" Nathan snapped at Lucas as he started fiddling with his phone again.

Lucas sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "And is it more than just 'a couple nights worth of sex' to her too?" Lucas asked, knowing that he was stepping right back into dangerous territory, especially after the way the last conversation about this girl had ended, but he couldn't help it, he was just looking out for his brother.

Nathan banged his free hand down on the table. "Damn it Luke!" He shouted. "Why don't you ever just keep quiet? Why do you always feel the need to meddle in absolutely everything?"

Lucas held his arms up in mock surrender following Nathan's outburst. "I'm not meddling Nate, I'm simply asking you a question. And the reason why I'm not going to keep quiet about this is because I think that someone needs to open your eyes to this... fling or whatever the hell it is that you have going with this girl, because you seem to be constantly turning a blind eye to the situation you have gotten into." Lucas said with a raised eyebrow, hoping that this time Nathan would listen and that at least some of what he was saying would actually register in his brother's head, seeing as the conversation that they had shared last time seemed to do no good whatsoever. "And you didn't answer my question Nate."

Nathan glared at Lucas throughout his entire speech, wanting nothing more than to gage him; he didn't want to listen to him talking shit about what he had with Haley. But as much as Nathan wanted to block out what Lucas was saying to him, he listened. He hated the fact that Lucas managed to say exactly the things that he didn't want to hear. He hated that Luke asked him the questions he didn't dare ask himself, for fear that he wouldn't like the answers. Did this relationship mean anything to Haley? Was it just a fling to her? Was it really about just finding someone to have sex with and he was just a willing participant in her little affair? Or did this actually mean something to her? The truth was, Nathan didn't know. He wanted to know, he really did, but he only wanted to know the answers to those questions if they were those that he wanted to hear. He couldn't bear the thought of Haley not wanting him one day. He felt like he wouldn't know what to do with himself if that day ever came. And so that fear was exactly the reason why he didn't ask those questions, that was the reason why he kept quiet.

Lucas could see the internal battle Nathan was fighting with himself and he hated that he was the person making him doubt what he had going on with this girl, but he felt like he needed to do this for Nathan's sake. "Look Nate, I know you don't want to hear this but you have to talk to her about this, you need to know where you stand with her. If you don't..."

"Lucas I know I have to talk to her okay?" Nathan responded quietly, as he put his phone down on the table and played with his hands, staring at them as if they were the most fascinating things that he had ever seen. He wanted to explain to Luke how much Haley meant to him, how vulnerable he felt about the whole situation, how scared he was that he was going to lose her. But he couldn't even fathom the thoughts for longer than a millisecond, let alone the words that were needed to begin.

Lucas sighed. He had never seen Nathan this way and he wanted to be happy for him, he really did. "She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Lucas asked, even though it was probably the most obvious question to ask, he wanted to hear it from Nathan, he wanted to understand how things had developed so quickly between them. He also wanted to know how Nathan could possibly deal with the fact that she had someone else, for sharing wasn't something that Nathan could usually be associated with, especially when it came to girls, his jealously was usually completely out of control, but he knew that question would need to be saved for an appropriate time, one thing at a time seemed to be the way to move things forward with this girl, and getting Nathan to talk to her was Lucas' biggest priority right now.

Nathan looked up from his hands and nodded. "She really does Luke. I've never felt this way about someone before. She's just amazing, ands her smile... she just lights up the whole room with it, honestly. She's the most amazing person." Nathan gushed as he began fiddling with his phone again.

Lucas smiled as Nathan described the coffee shop girl, it was plain to see how happy his brother was, but he just wished it was over a girl who was available to be with him for the long haul. "I'm pleased for you Nate, honestly I am. Just... please be careful alright."

~*~

Haley walked into the bathroom of her apartment, taking off her work clothes and placing them in the laundry hamper she had purchased. She started up the shower and waited for the water to warm up. The week already felt like it was dragging for Haley and it was only Wednesday. And she knew exactly why the week felt like it was going in slow motion, she hadn't spent the night with Nathan sine they had been to that cocktail bar last weekend. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, shaking her head at how pathetic she was being as she untied her hair, letting it fall past her shoulders. She couldn't help the way she felt about Nathan, and it was ridiculous that she missed him so much, she had seen him that morning, but she missed cuddling up to him, and she missed his kisses, she missed doing all the things they did together that they just couldn't do in public. She sighed as she picked up her mobile which she had placed on the counter beside the sink and debated whether to call him or not. She just wanted to hear his voice, that was all but she knew that he was out tonight with his brother and she didn't wasn't to disturb him, or bother him. She closed her eyes as her hands tightened around her phone, before she placed it back on the counter and released her grip on it and then opened her eyes.

"You are pathetic." She scolded her reflection. She could wait until the morning to speak to him surely. It was only a couple of hours until she would seem him. She walked away from her phone and checked the temperature of the shower, finding that it was absolutely perfect and was about to step in when she walked back to her phone. One little text wouldn't hurt, right?!

~*~

The waitress had just delivered the two shots Lucas had ordered and Nathan picked his up off the table and downed the drink. He placed the empty shot glass on the table, grimacing as he felt the liquid trickle down his throat, when he felt his phone vibrate in his hand. He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he flipped the phone around and checked to see whether he had a call or a text coming through, smiling even wider when he opened the text message Haley had just sent him.

'Hope you're having fun with your brother. I miss you. Hales x'

Lucas watched his brother's face carefully as he looked at his phone. He could tell from the look on his face that it was the person he had been waiting to hear from all evening. He sighed at how excited Nathan seemed to be about her, once again wishing that his brother could feel this way about someone who was single and not already involved with someone else. Nathan really did deserve to find love, but he deserved to be loved back just a fiercely as he could love another person, and Lucas doubted that was something that this girl could ever do for him, not when she was already settled with someone else.

Nathan was so happy, he felt like he would burst, but that was how he always felt whenever he heard from Haley. Now that she had text him, he desperately wanted to see her, and he looked up from where he was sitting, catching his brother's eye which was fixated firmly on him.

Lucas rolled his eyes at the silent question Nathan was throwing his way. "Go on; get the hell out of here." Lucas said as he shook his head and waved his hand at Nathan. He had never seen his brother leave a bar so quickly and shook his head again at how far gone he seemed to be on her.

"Thanks dude, I'll call you tomorrow." Nathan threw over his shoulder at his brother as he hastily made his way out of the bar, dialling Haley's number as he moved towards the exit.

~*~

Haley had just finished washing the conditioner out of her hair when she heard her phone ringing. She quickly stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself as she grabbed her phone off the counter, smiling when she saw that it was Nathan who was calling her.

"Hello sexy." Nathan said as soon as he heard the phone call connect.

God, just hearing his voice had Haley shivering. "Hey you." Haley replied as she bit down on her bottom lip, unable to stop fantasising about being with him in what she hoped would be a very short amount of time, she desperately needed him. "How's your brother?" She found herself asking. Well she wasn't going to just say 'I need you right now...' was she?! That was a little too presumptuous for her.

"Fine, I just left, how was your evening?" Nathan asked, not really caring for small talk at the moment, his mind already wandering to the last time that had been together and thinking about all the things he was hopefully going to do to her once he got her alone tonight.

"I haven't really done much to be honest; I've just got out of the shower." Haley answered as she twisted a lock of wet hair around her finger.

"Really? Just got out of the shower huh?" Nathan asked, images of a wet Haley completely clouding up his mind. God she was hot. "What are you wearing?" He asked huskily.

"A towel." Haley answered, biting down harder on her bottom lip.

Nathan groaned as he felt himself grow hard at the thought of Haley all wet, with nothing but a towel around her, a towel that if he was there, would be thrown to the floor extremely quickly. He closed his eyes and took some deep breaths, trying to calm himself down a little, not that anything would be able to calm him down now anyway. "I need you Hales... now." Nathan said breathlessly.

"I need you too." Haley whispered back.

"Meet me at the hotel in twenty minutes?" Nathan asked as he looked down at his watch, checking the time.

"I'll be there." Haley responded as she clicked her phone shut and began to run around the apartment like a maniac, there was no way it was going to be possible to get ready and get to the hotel in twenty minutes, it was impossible, but there was no way in hell that Haley wasn't going to try.

~*~

Twenty minutes later, Nathan walked into the hotel lobby, did a quick scan of the area to see if Haley had beaten him there, and then once satisfied that he was the first there, he walked straight up to the reception desk and booked a suite. While he waited for the receptionist to locate a room and check him in, he couldn't help the fact that his mind was wandering back to what Like had said to him earlier in the evening. He knew that he needed to talk to Haley and find out where he stood. He was pretty certain that their relationship meant more to her than some fling but how could he be sure when she was still with her boyfriend? Was she ever going to leave him or was he always going to be her bit on the side? He grimaced as he thought those words, and ran a hand through his hair, hoping to erase those thoughts from his memory. He hated thinking about Haley going back to her boyfriend, it was just wrong, he and Haley belonged together and he was going to have to open her eyes to that fact, he had to do that, and it had to be soon, he knew he couldn't keep doubting what they shared for too much longer.

He was jolted from his thought when the receptionist handed him the room key and wished him a pleasant stay. He smiled at her and turned around just in time to see Haley walk through the revolving door. God, she looked amazing. Her hair was down and was still damp from the shower she had been having when he had called her. Just thinking about Haley standing underneath a shower, naked, with water trickling down her body, over her fantastic breasts and down her slender stomach had Nathan growing hard again. He shook his head of his fantasises and allowed his eyes to wander down her gorgeous body. She was dressed in a plain black tank top and a pair of tight jeans, and as his gaze wandered back up her body, he caught sight of the lacy bra strap that was showing on her shoulder. He didn't know why but every time he saw her, he got butterflies in his stomach, and all he could think about was that amazing body of hers that was hiding underneath the clothes she was wearing. All thoughts of talking to her had been completely pushed out of his mind; the only thought running through his mind was the complete need to utterly devour her.

Haley walked towards Nathan, the heels of her shoes clacking on the marble floor of the hotel as she did so. She felt Nathan's eyes roan over her body; she could literally feel him stripping her right then and there in the middle of the hotel lobby. She wrapped her arms around herself, desperately trying to keep her clothes firmly on her body, but as her eyes wandered lazily up his fabulous body, appreciatively moving over the muscles that were visible through the shirt that he wore, until her eyes locked with his intense, hungry, darkened eyes, her hands immediately dropped to her sides. To hell with waiting until they got to the hotel room, if Nathan wanted her right that second, he could have her. She threw a smile his way and then bit down on her bottom lip, trying desperately hard to stop herself from ripping that shirt of his body, for however amazing it looked on him, what was underneath it was far more delicious.

Nathan watched as Haley bit down on her lip and couldn't help groaning at the desire and need to kiss her that flooded his whole body. He grabbed Haley's hand and led her quickly to the elevators, thanking the Lord that no one else was waiting for one with them. He pressed the button for the elevator to arrive, wanting to get Haley inside of it as quickly as possible so he could start kissing her.

Haley looked down at Nathan's tapping foot and smiled knowingly, knowing exactly why he was doing it, for she needed him just as much as he seemed to need her. The elevator arrived and Nathan practically pushed Haley into the elevator before the doors had even fully opened, sending her crashing into the chest of one of the two men who were already standing inside the elevator. "Sorry." Haley mumbled as she regained her composure and stood up straight, seeing Nathan glare at the inhabitants before taking his place next to her, pressing the button for the top floor that they needed and then muttered incoherently to himself as they waited for the elevator to get them to their floor, Haley being unable to hold back the giggle as Nathan's foot tapping resumed, this time moving at double the pace it had been moving at before.

"For fucks sake!" Nathan muttered as the elevator stopped for the third time on just as many floors. He rolled his eyes and huffed as three more people entered the elevator, and surprise, surprise, each of them wanted a different floor. Nathan started at the buttons, cursing the receptionist who had given him a suite on the top floor as he saw more and more lights beaming at him from the controls. If the elevator stopped at one more floor to let even more people into the fucking thing, he was officially going to hit something, or someone. All he wanted was to get to his floor so he could start enjoying his time with Haley, but it seemed that every fucker in this place was trying to delay them.

What felt like five hours later, Haley and Nathan finally made it to the top floor, two other people that the elevator had picked up along the way also seemed to have rooms on that floor, but Nathan couldn't keep away from her any longer, and so he dragged Haley out of the elevator and as soon as he got a couple of meters along the corridor, he stopped walking and pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her waist as his lips landed on top of hers.

Haley moaned the second Nathan's lips connected with hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth down harder onto hers, as she opened her mouth willingly for him at exactly the same time that his tongue started to run over her lip. She felt his tongue slide over her lips and enter her mouth, seeking out her own and heard him moan into her mouth once his tongue connected with hers, his grip around her waist tightening as he tried to hold her even closer to him.

Nathan held Haley as close to himself as he could manage, wanting to feel as much of her body pressed up against his as possible. As his mouth moved hungrily over hers, his hand wandered further down her body until they rested on her ass. Feeling her own hands move up his head and feeling her fingers tangling around his hair as she added more pressure onto his head, forcing his mouth down harder onto hers, had Nathan wanting to get her inside of that hotel room as quickly as possible and so he started moving them further along the corridor until he got them to the hotel room. He reached around for the hotel room key which he had placed in his back pocket and pulled it out as his mouth moved hungrily down to Haley's neck, nipping and sucking on her skin as he placed the key into the card reader and pulled it out, trying to open the door, only finding that it hadn't unlocked. He tried again as his mouth moved along her neck, only to find that the door still wouldn't open. "God damn it!" Nathan snapped as he pounded his fist on the door. "What the fuck is up with this place?"

Haley couldn't help the giggle that escaped from her lips due to Nathan's obvious frustration. She moved her hands from his hair back down to the base of his neck and ran her fingernails lightly over his skin, hoping to calm him down a little. She leant up on her tip toes and placed a light kiss on his lips, watching as his gaze connected with hers. She gave him a smile and kissed him again on his lips. "Baby, we've got all night, be patient." She whispered as she placed yet another feather light kiss on his lips, before turning around and taking the key out of his hands, placing it in the key card reader, waiting a second before pulling it out, and then heard the door unlock. She opened the door and held it open for Nathan, giving him a smile as she shook her head at him and followed him inside the room, closing the door behind her.

Nathan walked further into the hotel suite and went straight into the kitchen area, pulling out a bottle of chilled wine from the mini bar, and poured two glasses full. He picked them up and walked over to Haley, handing her one, smiling at her before walking past her and sitting down on the sofa, turning on the TV and finding ESPN, seeing that there was a rerun of a game on and took a sip of his wine as he stretched his legs out in from of him.

Haley turned around from where she was standing and her mouth dropped open in complete shock as she watched Nathan switch on the TV and plonk himself on the sofa. What the hell was he doing? One minute he couldn't keep his hands off her, and then the next minute he had handed her a glass of wine and was all but ignoring her. Haley took a sip of her wine before placing it on the kitchen counter. There was no way she was going to let him just sit there and act like she wasn't even there. She moved herself into the lounge area and stood directly in front of the TV, crossing her arms over her chest.

Nathan fought against the smirk that was begging to come across his face and peered around Haley's body, making sure that he didn't look directly at her. "Hales can you move out of the way please, your blocking my view."

Haley's eyes grew wide as she listened to what Nathan had just asked her to do. She glared at him, daring him to look at her but he continued peering at the game that was showing on the TV behind her. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" She questioned menacingly, waiting to hear him say those words again.

Nathan didn't dare glance at her for fear that she would literally kill him with the death glare he was sure she was throwing at him, that and that fact that he was sure to burst into a fit of laughter if he allowed himself to look at her. He continued watching the game, shrugged his shoulders and spoke again. "You're in the way Hales."

Haley scoffed and stomped her foot, her arms still crossed around herself. She couldn't believe it. There she was, totally willing, actually needing to have sex with him and he was all but ignoring her, and choosing to watch some stupid fucking game! She felt like waving her hands in the air like a two year old that was demanding attention but she managed to contain herself and instead stomped her foot on the ground again, quite aware that she was already acting childish enough. "Nathan..." She whined and then stopped herself, for she wasn't sure what she wanted to say, she just wanted him to fucking look at her instead of the TV!

This time Nathan turned to look at her and tried his best to keep his expression neutral as his eyes connected with hers. "What Hales?" Nathan asked.

Haley looked down at the floor and started playing her hands and bit down on her bottom lip before looking up at Nathan, who had already turned his attention back to the TV. "This is fucking ridiculous." Haley cried out as she marched over to Nathan, grabbed the remote out of his hands and switched the TV off before throwing the remote onto the sofa next to him. She looked down at Nathan and saw the confused look he had on his face, before she walked the remaining steps that were needed before she plonked herself in his lap, grabbed his face between her hands and forced her lips on his.

Nathan smirked as soon as he felt Haley's lips on his, but managed to move his hands to her shoulders and pushed her away. He lifted her chin with his hands until her eyes connected with his and he placed a light kiss on her lips. "Baby, we've got all night, be patient." He whispered, echoing Haley's earlier words to him, before laughing at her.

Haley shook her head at him. _Bastard. _She thought to herself and she knew that if she had an ounce of strength in her, that she should walk right out of that hotel room and go home, and leave Nathan to watch his precious game that he seemed oh so interested in. But she didn't have any strength when it came to him; she was quite possibly at her weakest when it came to him. She watched in horror as his arm reached out to grab the remote that was next to him, and she quickly grabbed his arm with her hand, forcing his attention back onto her. "Nathan, I need sex and I need it now. I need you." She demanded.

Nathan smiled at her before covering her mouth with his as he kissed her. He pulled away slightly and rested his forehead on hers. "Good." He whispered huskily. "Because I need you too."

Before Haley knew what was happening, Nathan had wrapped his arms around her waist and somehow managed to lift both himself and her off the sofa and she didn't have a clue where he was headed, nor did she care. Nathan's mouth was moving so fiercely over hers, she couldn't comprehend anything other than the complete desire that she held for him. She moaned into his mouth when she felt his tongue force its way into her mouth, duelling for control with hers as her fingers tangled in his hair.

"God you taste amazing." Nathan groaned against her skin as he tore his mouth away from Haley's and started to leave a hot trail of wet kisses down her jaw line until he got to her neck and started to nip and suck on her skin, wanting to cover as much of her with his mouth as he possibly could. He spotted the counter top in the kitchen and made his way over there as his mouth continued its assault on her neck, as he carefully placed her on top of the surface.

As soon as Haley felt Nathan place her on the counter, she wrapped her legs as tightly as she could around his waist, pulling him closer to her, grinding her hips into his obvious arousal. She moaned again as she felt Nathan's mouth start to work on her pulse point, that delicious tongue of his beginning to work its magic on her skin. She moved her hands down his back to his ass, squeezing it playfully; he really did have the most fantastic ass she had ever seen. God she couldn't concentrate on anything, all she could think about was what his mouth was doing to her, the way that his hands were moving possessively over her body. She moved her own hands from his ass and brought them around to his front, feeling his hard cock through the material of his trousers. She ran her finger over the bulge, hearing Nathan groan in appreciation from her touch. "You like that baby?" She asked sexily as she continued rubbing him through the material.

"Fuck yes." Nathan responded to her question before he moved his hands seductively down her sides, reaching for the hem of her tank top, pulling his mouth away from her for the split second that was needed to lift the top over her head before his eyes devoured her hot pink lacy bra, his eyes focussed solely on her breasts which were rising and falling in time with her breathing, before he attached his mouth back to her skin.

"Mmmm your mouth is so amazing Nathan." Haley moaned when she felt his mouth start to move down her neck towards her chest. His hands moved around her back and unclasped her bra before he peeled it off her body, freeing her breasts just in time for his kisses to reach her breast and for his mouth to land on her nipple. "God that feels good." Haley moaned as she felt Nathan's teeth bite down on her hardened nipple. "Baby, keep going." She encouraged him as his hand came up to play with the other breast. "You know what I want Nathan?" Haley asked breathlessly.

"What's that?" Nathan asked as he moved his mouth over to her other breast, sucking on her nipple as his hand gave the other nipple just as much attention.

"Mmmm." Haley moaned, lacing her fingers in his hair, holding his head in place. "I want you to taste me, I want to feel your tongue on my clit and then I want to feel you hard cock pounding into me... I want to feel your hands..."

Nathan couldn't take it anymore, if she continued talking he was going to come then and there, and the only place he wanted to be coming was inside of Haley. He quickly moved his mouth from her breast and attacked her mouth with his, needing to just shut her up, she was turning him on far too much, and all that talk of his tongue on her clit had him hungry for her. His hands moved to the buttons of her jeans and he made quick work of undoing them before peeling them off her body and throwing them on the floor, as his tongue forced its way into her mouth. He pushed Haley down as far as she could go on the counter and pulled his mouth away from hers, and took a moment to just look at her. She was just fucking amazing. There were no other words to describe how beautiful she was. He looked into her deep brown eyes as his hands rested on her knees, and he dragged them lazily along the inside of her thighs, spreading her legs even wider for him. He smiled at her before lowering his mouth to her slender stomach, placing kisses all over her skin. "You are so damn sexy Hales." He muttered against her skin until his hands, which were still tracing the inside of her thighs, came to her matching hot pink lacy panties. He could already smell how turned on she was, but as he ran his finger over the lace, he couldn't help the moan that escaped from his mouth as he felt how wet she was, knowing that he had got her like that turned him on even more and he couldn't help the rush of craving that ripped through his entire body in that moment. His hands gripped the edge of the lace and he couldn't wait to take them off, he needed to taste her now, and so he ripped the panties in two and threw then up in the air, letting them fall to the floor.

"Nathan!" Haley admonished as she heard the rip and then saw two pieces of hot pink lace fly to the floor.

"I'll buy you some more." Nathan muttered simply as he lowered his head and breathed in the delicious scent of her sex, running his tongue up her slit until he got to her clit, and circled his tongue around it before sucking down on it, causing Haley to moan out his name breathlessly. He felt her relax as he continued sucking on her clit, before running his tongue back down her slit and then he spread her folds with his fingers before plunging his tongue as deep inside of her as he could get.

"Shit!" Haley cried out as she felt Nathan's tongue move in and out of her. "Nathan..." She moaned as she gasped again. God he was such a master with that tongue of his. Haley could already feel her heartbeat increasing in pace and so she moved on her hands down her stomach until she reached her clit and started rubbing, helping her orgasm come that much more quickly.

It wasn't long until Nathan could hear Haley's gasping and moaning become even more frequent and so he knew that she was close. As he looked up and saw her fingers rubbing on her clit, he couldn't help but moan into her; there was nothing sexier to Nathan than that sight. He soon felt her body shudder and heard her scream out his name as her orgasm washed over her strongly, and Nathan made sure that he lapped up every last drop of her juices. Once he was certain that he had caught it all, he kissed his way back up her body to her mouth, placing a light kiss on her lips. "So fucking sexy." Nathan muttered against her lips. "You enjoy that?"

Haley wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek before jumping off the counter and leading him into the bedroom to show him just how much she had enjoyed what he had just done to her.

~*~

The following morning, Haley found herself back at the apartment, turning the shower on. She'd had the most amazing evening with Nathan, but she could hardly walk into work wearing jeans and a tank top and therefore she had told him that she would meet him in two hours at Starbucks while she went home to freshen up and change. She looked up at the mirror and glanced at her reflection, running her hand underneath her eyes. She caught a glimpse of the bracelet that she never seemed to take off herself, the one that Nathan had given to her and smiled down at it, thinking about how amazing he was, thinking about how much he meant to her, before taking it off and placing it on the side of the sink while she showered.

She stepped under the water which was scorching hot and allowed the water to trickle over her body. She couldn't begin to even describe how she felt when she was around Nathan, he really did make her feel like she was the most important person in the world to him, he made her happy, and she seemed to make him happy. She threw her head back under the water for a second as she thought about the sham of a relationship that she had going with Tom. How the hell could she marry someone that she hadn't even heard from since what felt like forever? That just wasn't normal, their relationship was far from normal. When you were engaged to marry someone, you were supposed to be in love with that person, you were supposed to be completely enamoured by that person that you were choosing to spend the rest of your life with. And Haley knew that Tom was not the person that she wanted to spend her life with, far from it. She also knew that she didn't love him anymore. Yes she had loved Tom once upon a time, but things changed, and the love that she had thought that she had felt for Tom had completely dwindled to nothing now, and what she had felt for him was nothing compared to the feeling she felt for Nathan who was someone that she had only known for a fraction of the time that she had known Tom for. She was falling hard for Nathan, and the longer she stayed with Tom, then the longer she was putting off starting what she knew could be an amazing relationship with Nathan. She knew what she had to do, she couldn't continue being with Tom, not when she felt so strongly for someone else, and not when it was obvious that their relationship was a complete disaster. She was going to have to talk to him, end it, and then hope that Nathan wanted to be with her properly, for that was what she wanted, more than anything, she wanted to be his girlfriend.

~*~

Two hours later, Haley walked into Starbucks and saw Nathan sitting as his usual spot, with his several espresso cups surrounding him and her latte sitting next to them, his head buried in the financial section of the paper. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, placing a lingering kiss on his cheek, smiling when she thought of being with him properly, thinking about how wonderful it would be to call him her boyfriend.

"Hello, you look gorgeous." Nathan smiled at her and kissed her on the lips as he handed her the latte he had ordered for her. "I have something for you."

Haley sat down in her seat and couldn't stop smiling, now that she had finally made a decision, she felt like this humungous weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She didn't know why she hadn't done it before, if she had known that it would be this liberating she would have told Tom to get lost as soon as she had moved to Manhattan. She took a sip of her drink and placed it down on the table as she watched Nathan reach down underneath the table, and hand her bright pink and black bag. "What's this?" Haley asked, wondering what he was giving her.

"Take a look and see." Nathan said with a smirk as he downed another espresso shot.

Haley tipped the bag upside down and emptied the contents on the table in front of her, only to be shocked to find the table now completely covered in turquoise and black lace. She blushed what she knew was the deepest shade of red that any human could possible turn and hurriedly scooped the items back in the bag. "Nathan!" Haley hissed. "I can't believe you let me tip all that out of the bag!"

Nathan laughed at her and stroked her cheek with his thumb, he loved making her blush, there was something so innocent about it. "Well you wanted to see what was in the bag!"

"Well what the hell is in the bag?" Haley asked as she pointed at the offending items that she had now kicked underneath the table.

"I told you last night after I ripped your panties off you that I would get you some more and that is what that is." Nathan replied as he took another shot of espresso and downed it, smirking at the look Haley was giving him.

"Nathan, you ripped my panties, right?" She whispered to him, looking around to check that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Yes I did." Nathan replied.

"And you told me that you would buy me some more but what is in that bag looks like a hell of a lot more lace and satin than is needed for a pair of panties." Haley said in a quiet voice.

"Do you want me to show you what I got?" Nathan asked as he moved his hand underneath the table, more than happy for the whole of the coffee shop to see what he had got her. It was fucking sexy was what it was, he didn't care who knew what was in the bag, at the end of the day, he was going to be the lucky bastard that got to see this amazingly hot woman wear it all.

"No!" Haley cried out and swatted his hand away from the bag.

Nathan chuckled as he sat back in his chair. "Alright, I'll tell you what I got you then instead. It's a bra, suspender briefs and hold ups. And baby, you are going to look so fucking sexy in that. I cannot wait to see you wearing it." Nathan whispered hotly in her ear.

Haley couldn't help the blush that swept right back onto her face where the previous blush had just disappeared. She looked into his mischievous blue eyes which were sparkling at the moment and sighed as she shook her head. "If you're lucky, I might wear it tomorrow for you, to celebrate a special occasion." Haley whispered back at him as she placed a kiss on his cheek.

"What are we celebrating then?" Nathan asked. "I mean obviously apart from the fact that you will be looking like an absolute goddess?"

Haley smiled at him, before capturing his hand in hers. She knew she probably shouldn't tell Nathan about her decision until she had spoken to Tom, but what was the point in waiting? She had made up her mind, she wanted to be with Nathan, and nothing that anybody could say could possibly change her mind. And plus, she wanted to tell him, she wanted him to know that he was the person that she wanted to be with, he was the one that made her happy, no one else mattered to her in the slightest. But she didn't know how to begin, she thought about her words carefully as she played with his fingers, staring down at his hands, frowning as she thought of the words she needed to say as she laced her fingers between his.

Nathan sensed the change in the atmosphere and could tell that Haley was thinking about something serious and that scared him. He closed his eyes and thought back to all the conversations he had shared with Luke. Right then and there, in the silence that seemed to echo through his entire body, he knew why he had never once really questioned Haley about her boyfriend, he was scared shitless that he was about to lose her, he couldn't fathom a world without her, and if that meant that he needed to share her until the day that he died, then that's what he would do, for he was absolutely certain that no one else in the whole world could ever make him feel as alive as he did when he was with her. The silence was completely eating him up, his heart was beating so quickly, his hands were sweating and his breathing had increased tenfold. He couldn't take it, he really couldn't and he knew that he needed to say something before she completely crushed him, she needed to know that there was another way in all of this. "Hales, listen to me. I know that you have a boyfriend, and I honestly don't know how things are going with him, but if you need to be with him, then I'm okay with that, honestly, I can share you. As much as I want you completely to myself, I can't imagine my life without you."

Haley looked up from their joined hands and saw that Nathan was looking away from her. She shook her head, completely in awe at how she had been so lucky as to find this amazing man. She lifted her other hand and ran her finger softly down his cheek until she reached his chin and slowly turned his head until he was facing her, and she moved her head so that her eyes connected with his. "Hey..." She said softly as her hand continued to caress his face. "Nathan, you have no idea how happy it makes me feel to hear you say those things, but I can't let you share me, I don't want you to share me."

Nathan shook his head and placed his hand on top of hers, stilling her stroking and brought her hand down to his mouth, placing a kiss on the back of her palm. "Haley, you can let me share you. I just want to be with you, I don't care if that means that you don't get to be mine completely."

Haley sighed gently and watched as he looked away from her again. "Nathan look at me, please." She asked.

Nathan couldn't do it, he couldn't look at her, not when he knew that she was going to say that they couldn't be together, he just couldn't do it to himself, and he didn't want to end up with a broken heart. But the more he thought about it, the more he realised that if that was what Haley wanted, if that was what she truly wanted and it would make her happy, then he would do it, he would find a way to cope with not being a part of her life, all he ever wanted was for her to be happy, and if it wasn't with him, then so be it, so he forced himself to turn his head and smiled faintly when he found her beautiful brown eyes looking right at him.

Haley smiled softly when her gaze connected with his and she took a deep breath before speaking. "Nathan, I've been doing a lot of thinking ever since I first met you. You literally threw my entire world upside down, I thought I had everything planned out, but then you completely shook me up and made me realise that the life I had been living wasn't making me happy. And you showed me how wonderful being with someone can be, you've shown me that whatever I thought I had been feeling before was nothing compared to the way that you make me feel. I can't even think of any words that can express how thankful I am that I found you, and... and... that's why I want to be with you... properly."

Nathan looked at Haley with a complete look of shock on his face. "I'm sorry what now?" He asked, not being too sure that he had even heard her right, he was one hundred percent positive that his mind was playing some completely cruel trick on him.

Haley bit down on her lip and fiddled with her hands. She didn't really want to repeat herself, she wanted to know how Nathan was feeling about this whole thing, and she wanted to know if he wanted the same things that she did. "I want to be with you Nathan. I mean... if you want to be with me too, that is."

Nathan let out the long breath of air that he hadn't even realised that he had been holding in. He broke into the widest smile he had ever given and couldn't help laughing at the complete joy he felt in that moment. Haley wanted to be with him! "God Hales." Nathan exclaimed as he leant forward and kissed her deeply. "You don't know how long I have been waiting for you to say that to me." He said as he cupped her face with his hands, peppering her cheeks in kisses. "Of course I want to be with you. I'm completely falling for you."

Haley couldn't help smiling back at him, she closed her eyes, completely overwhelmed by the entire exchange, but all she knew was that she and Nathan were going to be together, that was all that mattered. She wrapped her hands around his neck and moved his mouth onto hers, kissing him with as much passion as she could find in her, and for Nathan, that passion seemed to run endlessly through her.

**AN – Alright guys... there we go! I think you all know what is coming up in the next chapter... I do wonder how you all think the reveal is going to go down now that you have read this update! Anyway, let me know what you thought about it by leaving me a review and I will do my best at trying to update as soon as I can, I promise! Aw I'm so excited about the next chapter!!! xx**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN – Thanks so much for the reviews guys! I love every single one of you for taking the time to leave them, you have no idea how happy it makes me to see how much you guys like this story... I responded to the ones that I could... but to those of you who don't have accounts... Sara345 (I'm so pleased that you are enjoying this and thanks for reading), Mel (I hope that you like this chapter, I think this is what you have been waiting for!), Lotti190 (Thanks so much for you lovely comments, glad you like the story), tscute4u (read on to find out what happens), Shelley (you're right... I don't think it is going to be easy either..!), Maria (Haley has chosen Nathan, I'm glad you were happy about that!) and Jess (I can't remember if I responded to you or not through your account, but I'm glad you are enjoying this story too!).**

**I think some of you are wondering how long this story is going to be... and I wanted to just let you know that like Kiss the Rain (my other story)... I have no idea. I have an outline, which is long, and therefore that together with my incessant rambling in each chapter, well it's likely that this story too will be long! Sorry I can't give you guys a proper estimate..!**

**Okay guys and with the thank yous out of the way... on with this chapter! Apologies for how long this chapter took me to get out – I think you will understand why when you see just how long it is... Honestly, this should have probably been two chapters but I didn't want to cut it off really, and plus I said a while back that this would happen in chapter ten... and chapter ten it is. Now I know you all have your theories about what was going to happen... who was going to be involved... how much was going to be revealed... and well, I have said this all along with the previous chapters posted, that I had planned this chapter out as soon as I thought of the plot to this story. Maybe this was the way that you saw it happening, maybe it wasn't but either way, I hope you enjoy it.**

**I do want to warn you guys right now... this is long, the longest chapter I have ever written (and my usual chapters are long so you can only imagine how long this one is (18,504 words no less according to the word count thingy on this site!)), and so I advise you to grab a drink (preferably some wine if you are old enough to drink it... and it's not 7am in the morning!), some food, and possibly warn whoever that you live with that you may be AWOL for a while..!**

**Please read the AN at the end of this chapter too... I have some bits of information that I want to give all you guys. Other than that... enjoy! x **

**Chapter Ten**

Nathan pulled away from Haley's kiss reluctantly, as soon as the need to breathe became far too much for him to take. He rested his head against her forehead and glanced down at his watch just as his hand came up to softly caress her cheek. He sighed when he saw the time, knowing for a fact that both he and Haley needed to get to work, but he couldn't bring himself to care all that much about work, the business, his company. None of that mattered to him now, all that mattered was the fact that Haley had just told him that she wanted to be with him, she got to be his, and he finally got a hold of the one thing that he had wanted ever since the first day that he had noticed her when she had walked into this very coffee shop, and now that he had her, he wasn't going to let her go, ever. He couldn't keep the smile off his face, despite his sighing at the time, and he didn't care if he looked like a crazed lunatic, he was absolutely ecstatic, he wanted to tell anyone and everyone that would listen to him that the most amazingly beautiful woman in the world had just said that she wanted to be with him properly, no boyfriend in the picture at all. He closed his eyes as his hand continued to caress her face and as he opened his eyes; he looked down to Haley's mouth and saw that she too had a huge grin on her face. He chuckled happily at the sight and leant down to capture her lips with his, peppering her with light kisses, unable to get enough of her; he knew that he would never get enough of her. "Thank you Hales." He whispered before continuing to kiss her again and again.

Haley smiled as she felt his lips connect with hers again, so relieved that he had said that he had been waiting for her to say that she wanted to be with him, and then he had said the most amazing thing that she had ever heard in her life, he had said that he was falling for her. This gorgeous man sitting in front of her had told her that he was falling for her. She was on cloud nine. She never imagined that he would ever say anything like that to her, not when she had effectively been with Tom while she had been with him, not when she had already been in a relationship, and actually, at this point in time, she still was! But the truth was that she was falling for Nathan too. He really was the most amazing guy that she had ever met and Tom really didn't stand a chance, not when what she was already feeling for Nathan was stronger than anything she had ever felt for Tom. Not with the way that he had treated her over the past two years of their relationship, compared with the princess that she felt when she was around Nathan, who always made sure that she was happy and safe, whereas it seemed that Tom couldn't care less about her. She really didn't know what she had been thinking when she had said yes to Tom's proposal, for she felt that she had always known that her and Tom's relationship was doomed to failure. But with Nathan, she could see nothing but an incredibly happy future ahead for them both. She kissed him back once more and rested her hands on his shoulder, before pulling away so that she could look at him properly. "What are you thanking me for?" She whispered back, unable to help herself as she leaned back in and placed another kiss on his lips.

Nathan kissed Haley back softly and then pulled away from her and looked deeply into her gorgeous brown eyes which seemed to go on forever. He moved his hand further up her cheek and swept a lock of hair behind her ear. "For being you." He said simply with a smile, before glancing down at the bag that Haley had placed underneath the table, and then looked back at her with a sexy grin plastered all over his face. "So how come I have to wait until tomorrow night to see you in that incredibly hot underwear?" He asked.

Haley smiled right back at him, staring into those incredibly sexy blue eyes. "Well hopefully by tomorrow night I will have spoken to my boyfriend and then by way of celebration that I will be yours completely, I'll wear that underwear for you." Haley responded as she looked down at the bag that she had kicked under the table and then glanced back up at Nathan, biting down on her bottom lip.

Nathan leaned back into her and kissed a path right from the corner of her mouth to her ear, unable to help the groan that escaped from his lips as he thought about Haley dressed in that underwear for him, and also at the fact that by tomorrow night, she would be his and his only. Once his mouth had arrived at her ear, he nibbled lightly on her earlobe before whispering huskily in her ear. "You do know that you will probably get more use out of the underwear if you wore it tonight right? Because Haley, the minute I know that you are mine, I won't be able to keep my hands, or various other parts of my body away from you for very long at all."

Haley giggled at his words, but knew that she didn't want to cave on this one. Nathan had chosen that underwear for her because he obviously liked the thought of her wearing it, so she wanted it to be a special occasion when she modelled it for him. "I'll wear it tomorrow and that's final, no negotiations." Haley said sternly, laughing as she looked at Nathan's sulky face. "And that face won't help either!" She laughed as she grabbed his chin playfully. "Now come on, let's make a move because we are both already late for work."

"Fine, let's go. You want another take out coffee?" He asked and Haley nodded at him. "I mean it though, don't come crying to me when you find that your new underwear is ripped." Nathan said with a sexy smirk as he stood up and watched as Haley picked up that bag that housed what was now his number one fantasy from underneath the table.

"I'm kind of banking that it will be ripped." Haley said with a grin of her own as she turned and started to walk out of the coffee shop, not getting very far when she heard Nathan ask her a question.

Nathan turned to look at Haley's disappearing back with a confused expression on his face. "Why would you want me to rip it?" He asked.

Haley turned back around to face him, a devilish grin on her face. "Well, besides that fact that what I'm sure would come after they were ripped off would be incredibly hot; it would also mean that you would have to buy me another set!" Haley said cheekily and she turned and stared to wait for Nathan by the door.

"Oh really is that so?" He called playfully after her, laughing when she turned and winked at him as he joined the queue to order them both a takeout coffee.

Once Nathan had received the coffees, he walked to the door where Haley was waiting for him, handed her latte to her and pulled her other hand into his as they walked out onto the incredibly busy Wall Street.

Haley didn't say anything to him, instead she was staring down at their joined hands, revelling in the feeling of not having to hide their relationship anymore, enjoying the fact that they were both in public, holding hands just like any normal couple, which was precisely what they were... a normal couple, well it would all be official once Haley got around to telling Tom that the engagement, as well as their relationship was off, but there was nothing wrong with starting things early with Nathan, nothing could stop her from wanting to be with him. She stopped walking and turned to face him, smiling up at him as she found herself getting lost in his incredible blue eyes.

Nathan looked right back into her eyes, not believing that she was his... well once she got rid of the boyfriend she would be, which was happening soon. Quite how he managed to get so lucky, he didn't know, but what he did know was that he couldn't wait until tomorrow night, when he got to call her his girlfriend officially for the first time. He smiled at that thought and couldn't help himself as she leaned down and kissed her, not a quick peck on the lips or cheek like he would have had to have done before, given that they were in a public place and all, but this time, he kissed her properly. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her as close to him as possible, opening his mouth on top of hers as his tongue sneaked out and ran seductively over her luscious bottom lip, begging for entry into her delicious mouth, which she readily gave, and as soon as he felt her lips part, he slid his tongue into her mouth, moaning quietly when his tongue found hers.

Haley felt him begin to pull away from her all too soon. She hadn't been expecting a kiss like that from him, not at all, she had been expecting the normal light kiss on the cheek that he normally gave her, or if she had been really lucky that morning, she would have received a quick kiss on the lips. But that kiss was definitely the way that she wanted them to part for work from now on. She wanted a proper kiss from him every morning, one that made her lips tingle with longing, just like they were doing now.

"Have a good day at work Hales, I'll call you later." Nathan whispered as he ran his thumb lightly over her cheek, unable to resist one more parting kiss, before pulling away from her, smiling and then, using all the willpower he had in him, he turned away from her and started walking to his office, not turning around to look at her for fear that he wouldn't be able to take another step away from her if he did.

Haley sighed contently as she watched him walk away from her, wrapping her hands around her warm latte. She knew that the quicker she managed to talk to Tom, the quicker she would be able to get this whole situation sorted. Once she couldn't see Nathan anymore because of the flock of people blocking her view, she turned and walked towards her office, praying that tomorrow would come quicker than she thought it would, given how desperately she wanted Nathan to rip her underwear right off her, right now. But she guessed that she would have to be patient and wait.

~*~

Lucas had just stepped out of the car he used to get to work, he was running late, there had been an accident on one of the roads his driver needed to take to get him to Wall Street which had caused the mother of all traffic jams, and that, coupled with the fact that Brooke had kept him in bed this morning for what was supposed to be a quickie but turned into anything but, meant that he was craving the coffee he had to skip at home, and so he had asked his driver to stop the car a little earlier than he usually did, as he remembered that there was a Starbucks not far from the office. His driver couldn't park directly outside the coffee shop, so they had driven a little closer to the office before stopping. Lucas started to walk back down Wall Street, towards Starbucks when he stopped dead in his tracks, blinking several times, wanting to double that that the person he could see in the distance, standing right outside Starbucks, was in fact his brother, with his arms wrapped around what he could only presume was the Coffee Shop girl.

His mouth dropped open, his feet wouldn't continue moving forward for he was in too much shock to do anything but stare at them. The girl had her back to him so he couldn't see much, other than the fact that she had a black coat on. He watched as they continued kissing each other, and even from the distance that he was standing from them, he could see that his brother had the biggest grin known to man on his face.

Lucas' head suddenly snapped into gear once he had stood still in exactly the same spot for a good minute and a half, just gawping at the scene in front of him. He realised that this was far too good an opportunity for him to miss, this was his chance to finally unveil the identity of the mystery woman that Nathan had been going on about for months now, this was his opportunity to find out just who Coffee Shop girl really was. He started moving forward, thinking about what he was going to say to make his presence known, while wondering if he should let them know that he was there at all, for that would enable him to torture his brother endlessly about her, without giving away the fact that he had seen them together. He decided that torturing Nathan was definitely the best option of the two and so he decided that he would keep quiet.

Lucas had barely taken five steps forward when the worst thing that could possibly happen, happened. He got hit with the stampede of people piling out of the Subway, obviously a train had just arrived and it seemed that half of New York had decided to get off at that station. He tried his best to keep a eye on his brother and the mystery girl, as well as continuing to move forward, but he found himself getting caught in the tide of people who all seemed to be travelling in the opposite direction to Starbucks, and instead of moving closer towards them, he found himself getting pulled back towards the office.

He couldn't see for shit through the throng of people and he knew that he had missed his opportunity, there was no point in fighting what he knew was a losing battle and so he gave up trying to push his way through the crowd by the Subway exit, and once the crowds had disbursed a little, he waited by an office building for the crowds by the exit to clear a little, all the while wishing that people would just move faster!

About a minute later, the crowds had cleared somewhat and so Lucas hastily walked towards Starbucks, desperately searching for the spot where he had seen his brother with Coffee Shop girl.

"Hey Luke!" Haley greeted him as she walked towards the office, wondering what he was doing; he looked like he was searching for someone or something. "You lost someone?" She asked.

_Damn! _Lucas thought to himself as he smiled quickly at Haley, before looking over her shoulder, wanting to make sure that Nathan had really gone. _Shit! _He had gone. "Hey Haley." He greeted her back distractedly.

Haley looked at him suspiciously, wondering again what he was doing. "Are you looking for someone?" She asked again.

Lucas shook his head free of the cursing that was running through his mind and looked down at Haley who was giving him a strange look. He laughed at her face and the way that she was watching him, and realised that he must seem a little weird this morning. "Yeah I just saw my brother with this girl that he has been hiding but he's gone now, I really thought that I was going to get a chance to find out who she was. It's just a bit frustrating." He replied in an irritated tone.

"Ohh! The owner of Scott Investment Management has a secret girlfriend?" Haley asked excitedly. "Why does he need to keep it a secret? Has she got like three heads or something?"

Lucas laughed at Haley's joke. "Well, it didn't look like she had three heads from the back of her, but you never know, and as for the secrecy, well, it's complicated."

Haley sighed in understanding, if anyone knew about secrecy and complicated relationships, it was her, who knew that she would have something in common with the owner of the company that she worked for, and something like that too?! "I'm sure he will introduce you to her when he's ready." Haley offered as she hoisted her handbag further onto her shoulder. "You coming to the office?"

"I'm going to grab a quick coffee first. I'll meet you there in five." Lucas responded.

"Okay, see you in a bit." Haley said as she started walking towards the office.

~*~

Nathan practically floated up to his office, he had truly never felt this amazing in his life, and found himself unable to hold back from sharing his happiness with whomever he passed. The elevator pinged as the doors opened and he walked out onto the floor holding his office, smiling and greeting several members of staff as he walked towards his office in the back corner, only to have his secretary run at him, while flapping her hands ferociously in the air. He chuckled at the sight of her, sure that if she flapped her arms any faster, then she would take off and fly right out of the window.

"Nathan where the hell have you been?" Sharon chided him when she was close enough to Nathan so that she wouldn't have to shout across the office at him. "You're late."

"I know, sorry Sharon, I had a couple of things to take care of this morning." Nathan explained, all the while watching Sharon's face, instantly knowing that something was wrong. "What is it?"

Sharon took a deep breath and then whispered to Nathan. "Mr Felton is waiting for you."

Any hint of a smile that had been on Nathan's face swiftly dropped. "You're kidding right?" Nathan asked with a hopeful tone, and watched in dismay as Sharon shook her head. "Shit!" He exclaimed as he ran one his hands through his hair. "I thought we weren't meeting until next week?"

"He apparently got confused and as he's here, he would like to see yourself and Luke and review the presentation you will be giving next week." Sharon informed him.

"Bullshit. He's just here to stick his fucking nose in!" Nathan groaned. "How long has he been waiting?"

"About fifteen minutes, he's in your office right now." Sharon replied as she started walking back towards Nathan's office, hoping that he would follow her, given that she knew how much Mr Felton hated to be kept waiting and sighed in relief when she turned back around and saw Nathan walking behind her.

"Fucking hell. I bet Luke hasn't even started working on the damn presentation yet." Nathan mumbled to himself as he pulled his mobile out of his pocket and scrolled to Luke's number, praying that he had some time free this morning, he wasn't going to face Mr Felton on his own, no way, especially when this was Luke's area of expertise.

~*~

Lucas couldn't believe how long the queue to get some coffee was, and every minute he spent waiting in the line was used by him to think over how annoyingly close he had been to finding out who his brother had been seeing, or rather was seeing at the moment. If only he had just continued walking, instead of standing there gawking at him... if only that stupid Subway train had been delayed by a minute, half a minute even... well, it was obvious to Lucas now that he had seen Nathan and Coffee Shop girl outside, it meant that they met in the very same Starbucks that he has now standing in, so perhaps an innocent run in one morning would be the way to go about this. He continued to think about how funny it would be to see Nathan's face once he realised that he had caught him red handed, wondering if it would be too much to have a camera handy, for he was sure that Nathan's face would be an absolute picture.

Luke continued debating whether or not to bring a camera with him when he was interrupted from his thoughts by the ringing of his mobile. He pulled the phone from his pocket and chuckled to himself when he saw his brother's name flash on the screen. He connected the call and was about to start taking the piss and wind Nathan up but he didn't even have a chance to open his mouth before Nathan started talking to him.

"Luke I need you to get your ass over here pronto. Where are you?" Nathan asked hurriedly as he continued walking towards his office which currently housed the evil Mr Felton.

"I'm grabbing a coffee, why, what's the hurry?" Lucas asked, he was sure he didn't have any meetings with Nathan this morning.

"Mr Felton is currently in my office, wanting to run through the presentation we are giving next week." Nathan hastily informed his brother.

"Well there is no presentation at the moment." Lucas responded.

"I figured as much." Nathan replied. "Look, just get over here and we will have to work the Scott charm on him and ask him to come back later on in the week to run through it once we have something to show him. I fucking wish that he was a woman, then this would be a piece of piss."

"Shit! What a bastard just turning up unannounced like that, what the hell is he doing?" Lucas asked.

"I have no idea." Nathan sighed. "Just checking up on us I guess."

"Alright, I'm coming over now. I'll call my secretary and ask her to start working on the presentation. At least that way we'll be getting a head start on this." Lucas responded as he left Starbucks without his coffee and started to walk towards Nathan's building.

"Cheers Luke, I'll catch you in a couple of minutes." Nathan said as he hung up the phone and braced himself as he walked into his office.

~*~

Haley had just sat down at her desk and switched her computer on as she pushed the pink and black bag which had the incredibly sexy underwear Nathan had bought her that morning underneath the table, unable to resist a quick sneak peak at the turquoise and black lace before it disappeared for the day. She smiled to herself as she thought about wearing it for Nathan tomorrow night, hardly able to wait for him to peel it, or rather rip it all off her body. She sighed contently as she grabbed her purse out of her handbag and as she waited for her computer to load; she pulled out her engagement ring from the purse and checked her phone for any messages, pleased that there seemed to be none waiting for her, when she stopped what she was doing.

She looked down and saw that she had absentmindedly placed her engagement ring on her finger, something that had just become a routine of hers after she had spent the previous night with Nathan. She debated whether she should wear the ring or not today, eventually deciding that she had made a decision, and therefore took the ring off her finger and triumphantly zipped it back in her purse. She felt so relieved that she didn't have to wear it ever again.

Peyton watched Haley debate with herself for a second and held her breath in anticipation at what Haley would do... wear the ring, or not wear the ring. She gasped when she saw Haley place the ring back in her purse and scurried over to her at lightning speed. "Hold it right there Haley." She commanded.

"Jesus Christ Peyton, you scared the life out of me!" Haley cried out as she placed her hand over her now rapidly beating heart.

"Sorry Haley I didn't mean to make you jump." Peyton giggled. "So what's with the no engagement ring? Tell me quick because I have about one minute until I need to be in that boring two day training course."

Haley shook her head at Peyton but was unable to hold back the smile. "I've made a decision; I'm ending it with Tom."

"What?" Peyton shouted.

Haley's eyes widened in surprise at Peyton's obvious shock at the decision she had made. "What do you mean? What, what?" Haley asked.

Peyton shook her head; she didn't have time to explain. "When are you telling him?" Peyton asked.

"I don't know, either tonight or tomorrow." Haley responded just as the office phone started ringing. She picked it up. "Scott Investment Management, Haley speaking." She said sweetly down the phone.

"Haley, its Luke. I'm having a bit of an emergency situation right now. I need you to start work on the Felton presentation." Lucas asked.

"I didn't think it was due until next week?" Haley responded, confused at how this presentation had turned into an emergency situation.

Peyton sighed as she looked at the clock and realised that she was now late, but she had to talk to Haley. She waited another thirty seconds before giving up and grabbed a sticky note and wrote 'tell him tonight' on it before sticking it down right in front of Haley and rushing off to her training course.

"It's not due until next week but he wants to run through a draft so we need to get something together pretty quickly." Lucas explained. "I'm meeting him right now so I should be with you in an hour or so."

"Okay, sure, I'll get started on that." Haley replied as she looked down at her desk and saw the sticky note Peyton had left her, just as she heard her mobile beep signalling that she had received a text message.

"Thanks Haley, I really appreciate it. See you in a little while." Lucas said as he hung up the phone.

Haley placed the phone back on the hook and grabbed her mobile from her bag, reading the text she had just received. _Haley, we need to talk, can you meet me tomorrow at 7.30pm at the Oriental hotel? Tom._

Haley responded back immediately, telling Tom that she would be there. She sighed happily to herself as she sent the message; it was all working out fine. Tom actually wanted to talk, and she should be finished ending things with him by eight and that meant that she got to enjoy the rest of the evening with Nathan, modelling that incredible underwear and engaging in what was sure to be some pretty hot sex. Life was just perfect.

~*~

The end of the day had been and gone, and at six thirty, Haley found herself sat at her desk, typing up the last couple of pages of the draft presentation. She had been working on it all day, not even having time to take a lunch break. She was reading through a previous presentation Lucas had used before, marking the changes that she needed to make to the one that she was typing up in pen on the sheets of paper, when she was interrupted from her work by Lucas.

"Haley, could you print off the presentation as it is right now for me please, my brother is on his way over to talk through it so that we can see what we have so far." Lucas explained.

"It's not finished yet, I still have three more slides to draft." Haley warned him.

"That's fine; we'll just run over whatever you've managed to do today." Lucas replied.

"Okay sure, let me just print you a copy." Haley said as she put her pen down and grabbed her mouse which was hiding under the mountain of paper she currently had spread over her desk, only to find that by moving her papers, she caused her pen to roll off the desk and onto the floor underneath her desk. She pressed print and then rolled her chair back away from her desk and got down on her hand and knees and search for her pen, spotting the bag containing the underwear Nathan had given her that morning right at the back, and realised that she had completely forgotten that it was there.

"Thanks for that Haley." Lucas said once he had grabbed the presentation from the printer. "And thanks for working so hard on this Haley today, I really appreciate it. You can go home you know?" Lucas stated as he started walking back towards his office.

"Thanks Lucas, but I think I might stay just a bit longer and finish off the last few slides." Haley shouted at him from underneath the table.

"Okay, well don't feel like you have to stay. And don't bother coming in until lunchtime tomorrow." Lucas shouted to Haley as he walked into his office and started to flick through the presentation.

"Thanks Luke!" Haley shouted back to him as she picked up her wayward pen and also grabbed the bag containing the underwear, crawled back out from underneath her desk and placed the bag on the edge of her desk so that she wouldn't forget it when she finally managed to leave work. She then grabbed her handbag and headed to the restrooms, passing the elevators just as the doors pinged open.

Nathan stepped out of the elevator just in time to see a whoosh of hair belonging to someone walk into the toilets. He walked over to Lucas' office, noticing how empty the floor was. He walked closer to Lucas' office and was already able to see that Luke wasn't inside his office by the door which was wide open and sighed, when he noticed the bag sitting on the desk just outside of his brother's office. It was exactly the same bag that he had given Haley than morning, and he couldn't help the curiosity, wondering what this person had bought from the shop. He walked closer to the bag and then looked around, double checking that the coast was clear, which it was. All he wanted to do was peek at what was inside of the bag, maybe get some inspiration for the next time he went in there to get something for Haley, that was all, there was nothing wrong with that right? He didn't think so. He had just managed to put his fingers on the top of the bag and was about to peer inside when he heard the voice reprimand him and made him literally jump out of his skin.

"Nathan what the fuck do you think you are you doing?" Lucas hissed at his brother, nearly ready to launch a full blown attack on him if he didn't remove his hands from Haley's belongings immediately.

_Shit! _Nathan thought to himself as he gingerly removed his hand from the offending bag and turned to face Lucas. "Nothing." Nathan replied sheepishly.

"Well then what the hell are you doing with your hands all over my secretary's personal items?" Lucas asked, wondering that in the world his brother was doing and also feeling pleased that Haley was nowhere to be seen, so she didn't have to witness the complete idiocy of his brother's actions.

"Your secretary huh?" Nathan asked with raised eyebrows. "My tenant right? You do know that the shop that uses these bags sells the hottest underwear ever right? I was just looking to see what she had got, that was all. She definitely has good taste in underwear."

"Jesus Nate, you are such a perv!" Lucas chastised. "Get your ass in here quickly before she comes back. And how the hell do you know what shop that bag comes from?" Lucas asked as he followed Nathan into his office and shut the door behind them.

~*~

Half an hour later, Haley had written the final three slides that she needed to type up and the draft of the presentation was complete, save a quick read through tomorrow lunchtime when she came into work. She slipped her coat on and walked around her desk to Luke's office, seeing that the door was still closed. She could see Lucas sitting facing her through the glass walls, and another person, who she presumed was his brother, who had his back to her, both of them sitting at the table discussing the presentation. She pondered whether she should go inside and say goodnight, and meet the owner of the company that she worked for, or whether she should just knock on the glass and wave to let Lucas know that she was leaving, or if she should just leave without saying anything at all, although, however appropriate that seemed, it also seemed a little rude of her.

"Okay, well I think what we have here is a good starting point. If you get your secretary to update it based on the changes I've suggested tomorrow and then send me a copy, I think we can run it by Mr Felton on Monday." Nathan said once he and Luke had had a quick run through of what was there so far.

"Yep sure, I'll make sure that she updates it when she gets in and then I'll send it over once it's been completed." Lucas replied, when something caught his eye outside his office. He smiled at Haley who was standing outside his office and waved at her, presuming that as she had her coat on, she wanted to let him know that she was leaving, and watched as she waved back at him.

"What the hell are you smiling and waving at?" Nathan asked, bewildered at his brother who seemed to be smiling at waving at him. He rolled his eyes at his brother, guessing that the time had come, he needed to lock his brother up for being insane, he had always known that this day would come eventually.

"My secretary, she's just leaving." Lucas answered Nathan's question as he lowered his hand back down to the table.

Nathan whipped around in his seat. "The one with the underwear bag?" Nathan asked as he turned, only to find that there was no one behind him. "Where is she?" He asked.

Lucas shook his head at his brother. "She's gone. You are unbelievable, you know that?" Lucas said as he got up from the table and walked to where his coat was hanging. "Fancy a drink?"

Nathan did fancy some alcohol but he didn't want to spend his evening with Luke, he wanted to see Haley. "Nah, I think I'm just going to head home." Nathan replied as he got up from the table.

"Okay, well we'll get that presentation to you as soon as it's finished. I'll chat to you tomorrow Nate." Lucas said as he walked out of his office, not bothering to wait for Nathan, he could find his own way out of the building.

As soon as Nathan heard the ping of the elevator arriving, he sat back down in the chair and pulled his phone from his pocket, scrolling down to Haley's number. He hadn't been able to get images of her wearing that underwear out of his head all day, especially after seeing that bag on Luke's secretary's desk, and he needed to see her in it tonight, he didn't care about the celebration tomorrow, he'd buy her some more for that occasion. He continued to scroll down to her number and hit the call button when he found her name, hardly able to contain his excitement at being able to hopefully see her in a matter of minutes.

~*~

Haley hadn't even walked past Starbucks when she heard her phone ringing in her bag. She slowed to a halt as she took the bag off her shoulder and started to search for her mobile, which she finally managed to locate right at the bottom of her bag. She smiled when she saw that it was Nathan calling her and picked up the call. "Hello." She said once the call had connected.

"Hey baby. How was your day?" Nathan asked as he leaned back in the chair he was currently sitting in, still inside Lucas' office.

"Busy and incredibly stressful actually, how about yours?" Haley asked as she bit down on her lip. She loved it when he called her baby. It just sounded right, not to mention the fact that it completely turned her on.

"Mine too; it has been quite a stressful day." Nathan said with a sigh. "But I think I know a really good way to help you and I relax." He said in a husky tone.

"Oh really, care to explain that idea?" Haley said with a giggle, knowing exactly where this was going.

"It's pretty simple actually baby. It involves you, me, a hotel room, and an incredibly relaxing jacuzzi bath that is plenty big enough for two." Nathan said with a smile as he thought about him and Haley spending some quality time in the bath, which was something they hadn't done together yet.

Haley was a little taken aback by Nathan's suggestion, as she thought that he was going to ask her to wear that underwear that he had bought her, even though she had told him already that she wanted to wear it for him tomorrow. But his idea sounded like absolute heaven, however, she knew that this was Nathan that she was talking to and so she didn't expect him to give up on the idea of her wearing that underwear tonight so easily. "That does sound good Nathan, is that all you have planned?" She asked innocently.

Nathan couldn't help smirking at how well she knew him already. "Not necessarily..." Nathan replied suggestively.

_I knew it! _Haley thought to herself. "Uh huh, so tell me, what else is going to happen if I agree to see you tonight?" Haley asked, already knowing the answer to her question.

"Well I'm presuming that you're hungry right? So we could get some room service." Nathan responded nonchalantly.

"Oh." Haley replied, completely shocked by his suggestion of food and not underwear.

Nathan laughed at her response to the room service, or rather her lack of response before continuing. "And, as I am offering you all this, there is something that I want back in return." He said in his sexiest, most suggestive voice.

"I knew it! Nathan I told you, no negotiating on the whole underwear." Haley jumped right in.

"But Hales..." Nathan whined. God did he need to see her in that ensemble. "Listen to me, tonight is just as good a night to celebrate as tomorrow night is. Tonight is the eve of the night that you get to be mine." Nathan tried to reason. "It's like Christmas Eve!"

"Exactly Nathan! Christmas Eve. And you know what makes Christmas Day all the more exciting and magical? The build up on Christmas Eve. I'm not going to change my mind baby. You're going to have to wait." Haley said sternly.

"Okay fine. I'll be good and wait." Nathan resigned. He personally always felt that Christmas Day was a big let down and Christmas Eve was the day to get really excited about, but never mind, he already knew that he had nothing to lose by waiting one more day, she would look just as amazing in it tomorrow and she would have done tonight. "You still want the bath and the room service?" Nathan asked.

"God yes I'm absolutely starving!" Haley responded.

Nathan chucked. "Meet you at the hotel in twenty?" He asked.

"Sounds perfect." Haley replied with a smile as she closed her phone and hailed down a cab.

~*~

Nathan's taxi pulled up outside the hotel at exactly the same time that Haley's did. He quickly got out of his taxi after he had paid the diver and walked in front to the one that Haley was in and opened the door for her, holding out his hand and helping her climb out of it. "Hello beautiful." He greeted her once she had stepped out and he placed a light kiss on her lips, before quickly moving to pay the taxi driver.

"Nathan I can get that." Haley said quickly as she pulled her purse out of her bag and handed him a note.

"It's fine Hales, all taken care of." He said with a smile as he turned from the taxi and placed the note she had given him back into her palm and led the way into the hotel.

Haley sighed as she followed him into the hotel and walked up to where he was standing at the reception desk, slipping her hand in his and squeezing it gently. "Thank you." She said quietly as she placed a soft kiss on his cheek.

"No problem baby." Nathan replied back to her with a smile on his face as he took the key from the receptionist to the suite that had been assigned and led both him and Haley towards the elevators.

Five minutes later, Nathan closed the door to the suite and headed into the bathroom, and poured the water into the bath, leaving the tap running as he walked back in to the bedroom and ordered some room service to be delivered to the suite in about half an hour. Once he hung up the phone, he walked back into the living room and watched Haley take off her high heels and her coat, before she turned around and looked at him. She was so beautiful, he was sure that he could stare at her all day and never tire of her.

Haley almost gasped at the intense way that Nathan was staring at her, and she found herself blushing under is gaze, as she stared right back at him, matching his intensity. He really was the most gorgeous man she had ever laid eyes on, and knowing that she was going to give herself completely to him once Tom was out of the picture sent a wave of complete lust through her whole body. She really did feel so happy that everything was falling so perfectly into place. She truly didn't remember what her life was like before Nathan, and the reason that she didn't remember it was because she hadn't been living, she had just been going through the motions, not feeling anything that life had to offer. But now, with Nathan, she felt everything, she felt alive.

As Nathan gazed at Haley, he couldn't comprehend how someone so beautiful on the outside and inside could be in his life in such a prominent way. She was like his angel, the one thing that he was certain that he couldn't live without. He walked the few steps that were needed to close the distance between them and kissed her softly as his hands moved up to cup her amazing face, and his thumbs ran gently over her cheekbones as his mouth started moving slowly over hers.

Haley's mouth started moving in unison with his and when his tongue lightly swept over her bottom lip, she parted hers and practically melted into a puddle on the floor when his tongue gently touched hers. This kiss was full of intensity, deliberately slow and sensual, for they knew that then now had all the time in the world to be with each other, nothing needed to be rushed.

Nathan pulled away from Haley breathlessly and continued to softly caress her cheeks with his thumbs before staring intently into her big brown eyes, so full of longing for him, as a wave of happiness and belonging came over him. "You complete me Hales, you know that?" He whispered quietly.

Haley closed her eyes briefly at his words. How could she have ever doubted that this was where she was meant to be? How could she have spent so long deliberating the most obvious decision that needed to be made? How stupid had she been? She opened her eyes and smiled sadly as she lifted her hands and wrapped them around his neck, slowly dragging her fingernails along the skin exposed at the base of his neck.

Nathan's hands moved from Haley's face, slowly working their way down the side of her body, before resting them on her hips. He watched her standing in front of him with her eyes closed and when she opened them, he was confused at the sadness that appeared. "Hales?" He questioned softly as he hands started moving in a circular motion on her hips. "What's wrong baby?"

Haley sighed deeply and shook her head as her fingers moved into his hair. "Nothing." She replied gently. "I just can't believe how much time I've made us loose."

Nathan smiled at her softly. "Shush Hales, none of that matters. What matters is tonight, and tomorrow and the next day and the days, weeks, months and years after that. It's not about what we've lost; it's about what's beginning right now. You and me." Nathan responded as his hands continued massaging her hips delicately.

Haley stared right into his amazing eyes, listening to his words, although he didn't have to say any of them for her to understand that, just like how she didn't have to reply to him, for everything that needed to be said showed in the intense gaze coming from him, which exactly matched hers. This was where she needed to be, she belonged to him completely. She pushed down gently on his head, bringing it down towards her and kissed him tenderly.

Nathan felt the softness of her kiss, so full of meaning. He moved his hands slowly back up her sides before bringing them around to her back, finding the zipper to her black dress and lowered it. Once he had got it all the way down, his fingers travelled lightly back up her back and over her shoulders and he moved the material of her dress down her arms which were now resting on his own hips. He pushed the dress right off her stunning body to the floor, leaving her standing in nothing but black lace underwear. He pulled away from her mouth, taking a second to gaze over her curves, appreciating ever inch of her.

Haley felt his heated gaze on her, and took this opportunity to start unbuttoning his shirt, taking her time, marvelling as each button she unbuttoned revealed more of his fabulously chiselled chest. Once his shirt was completely unbuttoned, she peeled it off his shoulders and down his arms, letting the shirt fall to the floor once it was off him. She leant back into him, kissing him again as she ran her hands over his now bare chest, her fingers slowly following the contours of his muscles as she heard him hasp and flinch in certain places, before his hands came up to stop hers from moving any further around his body.

Nathan pulled away from her mouth, his hands still clasping hers when he started to move them both towards the bathroom. Once inside the room, he checked the temperature of the water, which was perfect, stopped the tap, switched on the bubbles, stripped his boxers off his body and stepped into the water, lowering himself down into the tub. He turned and looked at Haley who was standing next to the bath, her eyes wandering up and down his body. "Care to join me?" He asked.

Haley's wandering gaze travelled back up that amazing body of his before resting on his perfect face. She reached around her back and unclasped her bra, feeling the material loosen on her skin, never taking her eyes off Nathan. She watched as his eyes turned to a midnight shade of blue when she started peeling the material off her body, allowing the bra to fall to the ground and then she moved her hands down her body to the waistband of her lace panties and moved her hands lower, taking the lace with her, exposing herself to him.

Nathan deliberately followed every move her hands were making as she took her underwear off. Once she had lowered her panties to the floor, his eyes travelled so slowly back up her body, mesmerised by her incredibly beauty, following every single one of her curves. "Absolutely beautiful." He muttered more to himself, his breathing increasing in pace as he watched her climb into the bath.

Haley turned her back to him and saw Nathan's legs appear on either side of her body. She lowered herself into the water in between his legs and leant back against his chest, feeling his obvious arousal behind her. She closed her eyes, feeling totally relaxed and calm as the bath bubbled around her. She felt Nathan's hands run over her stomach, slowly heading towards her breasts and once he reached them, he started to draw lazy circles around her nipples. She lifted her own hands from the water and ran her fingers lightly up and down his legs, sighing contently to herself when Nathan placed a kiss on her head. Yes, this was definitely where she belonged.

~*~

Half an hour later, Haley found herself sitting in Nathan's lap at the dining room table, both of them dressed in the white, fluffy dressing gowns the hotel provided, as he fed her some of the fruit off the platter he had ordered. She bit down into the peach Nathan was offering her, feeling some of the juices run down from the corner of her mouth, but not caring, she was famished and the peach tasted too damn good. "Mmmm delicious." She moaned out loud.

Nathan watched the juice trickle down from the corner of her mouth, down her chin and couldn't help himself a she leant down and licked the trail from her chin right up to the corner of her mouth, leaving a kiss where the trail of juice ended. "Now that is delicious." He said huskily as he pulled away from her, smiling as he leant his arm behind her and grabbed a grape and placed it in his mouth. He watch Haley return his smile and that same feeling built up from deep inside of him, the craving and wanting just as forceful as ever. "God Hales, you drive me crazy baby." He said as he swept some stray hairs away from her face and placed them behind her ear. "I can't wait until you're all mine." He whispered.

Haley wrapped her hands around his neck and slowly lifted her head to look into his eyes. "I already am." She said quietly, leaning up to kiss him softly.

Nathan returned the kiss and moved one arm to her back, and snuck the other under her knees and cradled her to his chest as he lifted them both off the chair and walked them into the bedroom. Once he reached the bed, he carefully lowered Haley onto it and then stood up at the foot of the bed, watching her watching him with nothing but pure lust in her eyes.

Haley leant up on her elbows and watched as Nathan untied his robe and dropped it to the ground. She quickly dropped her gaze to his magnificent body, biting down on her lip in an attempt to stop herself from moaning out loud at just the sight of him, she could already feel how wet she was becoming for him.

Nathan knelt in front of Haley on the bed, and reached his hand out to release her lip from her teeth, watching the delicious colour return to her lips. Once it had, he leaned in and kissed her, before moving his lips across her skin towards her neck as his hands reached down and untied her robe, and then pulled it off her, flinging it to the floor beside the bed. His hand reached around to the back of her neck as he pushed himself up on his knees and crawled on top of her, gently lowering her head to the bed in the process, leaning on his other hand to stop all his weight from landing on her petite frame.

As soon as Haley felt her head hit the bed, she wrapped her arms around Nathan and pulled him down on top of her, she wanted to feel his weight on top of her; she wanted to feel his skin on hers. She moved his head so his lips kissed hers instead of her neck, needing to feel his mouth on hers, and ran her tongue over his lips before feeling his mouth open, and as she slid her tongue inside of his mouth, caressing his tongue gently with hers, she felt Nathan move slightly above her as he slid his hand from around her neck and ran it slowly down the side of her body, grazing over her breasts as he did so. She could feel his hard cock pressing against the inside of her thigh and the craving she felt for him increased tenfold. She moved her mouth from his and kissed a path from his cheek to his ear. "Nathan, I need you inside of me." She whispered and then kissed the spot just below his ear, and then moved her mouth back along his neck, leaving a trail of open mouthed kisses behind her.

Nathan heard what Haley whispered to him, and groaned, and if it were at all possible, his cock grew even harder at the thought of being inside of her again. He leaned his elbows down at the side of her face and lifted his head up to look at her, taking a moment to enjoy her features, the slight colour she had in her cheeks, the need and longing for him that was so evident in her eyes, her perfect lips, parted slightly as she breathed softly. He leant down and kissed the tip of her nose and watched her eyes dance with lust. "I could watch you like this forever." He whispered, leaving a light kiss on her lips, before placing himself at her entrance, which he knew was so ready for him to please her. As he pushed himself inside of her slowly, he leaned in for another kiss, this time kissing her tenderly and deeply, showing her how much she meant to him.

Haley felt him move slowly but deeply into her as his mouth landed on hers in a kiss that was so full of him and what he was feeling. She kissed him back just as passionately as she wrapped her arms around his neck, arching her back on the bed to allow him to go even deeper inside of her. He pulled back from her once he was as far in as he could get at the same pace that he had entered her, and then he pulled himself all the way out of her, before entering her again in the same slow place, and pulled himself out of her completely again, just as slow. Haley whimpered beneath him, and raised her hips to meet him as he entered her again, trying to get him to increase the pace, but this torturous speed continued. She pulled away from his mouth as he left her for the fourth time and she moved her mouth along to his ear and whispered hotly when she felt him at her entrance again. "Damn it Nathan, fuck me." She then bit down on his earlobe.

God he loved it when she talked like that to him, and as much as he would have loved to hear her say it again, he didn't need to be told twice. He rested his hands on her hips and as he thrust quickly into her, he pulled her hips up to meet him, listening to the incredibly sexy way his name fell from her lips as he did so, spurring him on to continue.

"Fuck Nathan!" Haley cried out as she felt him enter her at a much better pace, feeling him hit her in all the right spots. "That's it baby." She moaned and was then quietened by Nathan's lips landing on hers. She clenched her inner muscles each time he entered her, tightening her grip on his hard cock, not wanting to let go, and she would have kept him like that, but him driving into her like this was causing so much pleasure to run through her entire body, so she let him go. She felt so complete with him inside of her.

Nathan moaned into her mouth each time he thrust back into her, he loved it when she gripped him inside of her like that, she was already so tight but the feeling of her clamping down on him like she was doing right now was just amazing. He pulled away from her mouth breathlessly and hovered his face just above hers, watching her, his eyes drifting all over her gorgeous face, there was nothing more beautiful than they way Haley looked while they were having sex.

Haley could feel that familiar feeling build up from deep inside of her. She opened her eyes and was met with Nathan's blue eyes looking at her with pure desire which was her undoing. She let go, feeling the waves of pleasure surge through her as she lost control, crying out Nathan's name in the process, not ever wanting this feeling to end as she felt him come inside of her.

Once they had both calmed down, Nathan removed himself from her and rolled onto his back, bringing Haley along with him as she crawled on top of him. He ran his hands down the length of her back and placed a soft kiss on her head before he allowed sleep to take over, content that tonight and tomorrow marked a whole new beginning for him and his Haley.

~*~

Haley awoke the following morning and opened her eyes slowly, finding that she was still lying on top of Nathan, wrapped up in his arms. She lifted her head and was met with his gorgeous eyes that looking right at her. "Morning." She said quietly, leaning up to place a kiss on his lips.

"Good morning." Nathan replied as he swept her hair out of her face and smiled at her.

Haley smiled back and settled back down on his chest, feeling his arms running soothingly up and down her back, causing her to want to go right back to sleep. She closed her eyes and started to relax again.

"Hey sleepy head, if you want coffee this morning we're going to have to make a move soon." Nathan stated as he looked over at the clock on the bedside table, checking the time.

Haley snuggled further into his chest. "No coffee today." She muttered sleepily.

"Oh really?" Nathan questioned, knowing for a fact that Haley needed coffee just as much as he did in the mornings. "And why not?"

"I have a half day today. I don't need to be in the office until after lunch." Haley replied smugly, thinking that she could do with a few more minutes rest.

"Part timer!" Nathan muttered cheekily.

"Hey!" Haley said as she slapped him playfully on his chest. "I am not a part timer! And what if I told you that I was using my morning off to find the perfect dress to wear with that underwear you wanted me to wear tonight?"

Nathan couldn't hold back the smile that spread over his face, firstly at the thought that today was the day that Haley officially became his, and secondly at the thought of her dressed in that incredibly sexy underwear. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep himself away from her once he caught a glimpse of her in it, that lace would have to be ripped right off her stunning body. He was definitely going to have to buy her a new set. "I say that is an excellent use of your time!" He replied. "Although I will mostly be interested in what will be waiting for me underneath the clothes."

"I'd never have guessed that!" Haley replied, lifting her head from his chest to roll her eyes at him, before leaning her head right back down into his chest and closing her eyes.

"So are you seeing him today then?" Nathan asked, he wanted to know what was happening so he knew what time he could expect her tonight.

"Yep, I'm meeting him at half seven."Haley responded. For her, that time couldn't come quick enough. All she wanted was for her relationship with Tom to be officially over and then she could start things properly with Nathan, the way things should be.

_Roll on half seven! _Nathan thought to himself. He brought his hand up and started running his fingers softly through her hair. "Do you think you'll be long?" He asked.

"I don't plan to be." Haley replied. "I should be finished with him by about eight. I'll call you when I've finished."

"Okay." Nathan said as he leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I have something on tonight, but I'll keep my phone on me and leave as soon as you call."

"Good." Haley said as she turned her face up to his and kissed him, she couldn't wait until eight o'clock tonight.

~*~

Lucas had made sure that he arrived at Starbucks as soon as the damn place opened this morning, and had sat patiently at one of the tables, biding his time, waiting for Nathan and this mystery woman to walk in. He checked his watch and was growing increasingly frustrated at the fact that Nathan still hadn't showed, and he had been sitting there for nearly an hour and a half. He scanned the coffee shop frequently, watching the women who sat at tables alone, carefully analysing their moves, seeing if any one of them were waiting for his brother to appear, but so far, he hadn't been able to spot anyone who looked like they were waiting for someone. He knew he looked crazy, he knew sitting here was crazy, stalkerish even, but he was so damn certain that this was the coffee shop where Nathan's Coffee Shop girl came from, and he had been so frustratingly close to unmasking her identity yesterday, there was no way he was going to let this one go. This had to be the place.

He was just eyeing up another potential Coffee Shop girl, when she lifted her head and glared at him, obviously not liking the way he was scrutinising her as she then hastily stood up and walked towards the door. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair, thanking the Lord that Brooke couldn't see him right now; she would officially kick his ass if she saw him looking at all these women!

Nathan had just let a woman walk out of the door and then he walked inside, instantly spotting Lucas sitting at a table all by himself. He silently thanked Haley's boss for giving her the morning off, grateful that she wasn't with him, before he walked up to Lucas. "Hey bro, what are you doing here?" Nathan questioned, he'd never seen Lucas in here before, hell if he had, Haley's identity would have been revealed a long time ago.

_Yes! _Lucas thought to himself when he heard Nathan talk to him. He instantly looked up at Nathan, watching his eyes to see if he was looking at anyone in particular and then quickly did another scan of the room, only to find no women sitting by themselves. He looked at every single woman who was in the place, but each of them seemed to already be sitting with a man. _The bastard's alone! _He though while feeling incredibly frustrated.

Nathan watched Lucas eye up nearly every woman in the coffee shop and wondered what the hell he was doing. "Luke, if Brooke ever catches you doing that, you're a dead man. Coffee?" He asked.

"Nah I need to get to the office." Lucas sighed, aggravated that his efforts had obviously gone to waste.

"I'm getting mine to go, you sure you don't want one too?" Nathan asked again.

"I'm good." Lucas said as he rose from the table and walked out of the door while muttering to himself. "Damn coffee to go, maybe they don't meet here then?"

"Freak." Nathan muttered to himself as he watched his obviously frustrated brother walk out of the coffee shop, wondering what the hell he was muttering about as he joined the line and waited to order his espressos, knowing that today was going to be an incredibly long day.

~*~

Nathan glanced down at the clock on his computer and banged his fist on his desk. How the hell could it only be three o'clock? He was sure that the clock on his computer had broken, there was no physical way that time moved that slowly, but when he lifted his head to the clock he had on the wall in his office and saw that the clock also displayed what was obviously the correct time, of three o'clock, he realised that time was just moving at a torturous pace today. Waiting sucked. Five hours to go... that's right, he had started a countdown, as soon as he had walked into his office this morning.

He was just about to start typing again when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in." He shouted out and then sighed, wondering what the person behind the door wanted from him. He watched as the door opened and looked at the person now standing in his office in utter confusion. "Carly what are you doing here? I thought we weren't meeting until Monday?" He questioned as he pulled up his calendar on his computer to check.

"Nice way to greet me Nate! I haven't seen you in about six months!" Carly responded as she rolled her eyes at Nathan and walked further into his office and shut the door behind her.

"Sorry Carly, I'm just a bit confused!" Nathan said as she rose from his desk and walked around to give her a hug. "How are you?"

"I'm fine thank you." Carly responded as she pulled away from Nathan. "And you're right, I'm not supposed to be here until Monday but I decided to come early and surprise you... so surprise!"

Nathan raised his eyebrows at her. "You should have called; the hotel we booked for you isn't booked until Monday."

"Well it's lucky that I know this old friend from college who has a killer apartment right here in this very city isn't it?" Carly responded with a cheeky grin on her face, seeing Nathan still looking quite angry that she was here. "God Nate, if you really want I can leave and come back on Monday, I just thought it would be good to catch up."

Nathan realised that he was being a bit rude. "It's not that I'm not happy to see you Carly, but I have a tenant living in that apartment now, and I don't stay there anymore."

"But it's got three bedrooms?" Carly questioned.

"I know but the tenant is Luke's secretary and he wanted me to stay away until he told her that I owned it, and he hasn't done that yet." Nathan explained.

"Well how long has she been in there?" Carly asked.

"I don't know, a month or two maybe?" Nathan pondered.

"Well Luke needs to grow a pair, he's had plenty of time to tell her, and yeah sure it's a little weird living at your bosses place but I'm sure she'll get over it. So what's the plan for the weekend?" Carly asked excitedly.

"I guess... Erm... well, I have a party tonight but I'm leaving early I think and then..." _I'm spending the night in bed with Haley... _"Erm..." Nathan blushed.

"Oh. My. God!" Carly exclaimed as she pointed her finger right at Nathan. "You're blushing, and you have that look on your face, I know that look! You've met someone haven't you?"

Nathan's mouth dropped open. "What face?"

"This is crazy! Who is she? Can I meet her? What did you guys have planned this weekend?" Carly asked.

"What the hell! No you cannot meet her, and we plan to see each other this weekend, alone." Nathan answered her questions while running a hand through his hair. He loved the girl as a friend, but Jesus she could be too much sometimes.

"Oh well, I guess I'll just have to find someone at this party tonight to entertain me all weekend seeing as you will be cooped up in the love shack!" Carly said as she raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"Fucking hell." Nathan muttered to himself... this afternoon just got a whole lot longer.

~*~

Haley stepped out of the taxi in front of the hotel that Tom had asked her to meet him at. She looked down at her watch and saw that she was five minutes late and so quickly straightened out her turquoise dress, matching the shade of the underwear she had on underneath perfectly and walked swiftly inside, fiddling with the bracelet Nathan had bought her which was set on her right wrist. She walked through the revolving door and spotted Tom standing next to the stairs on the other side of the lobby, dressed in a suit. He smiled at her as she moved towards him and she returned the smile softly. Her stomach was completely calm and she walked closer to him, there were none of those butterflies that persistently fluttered in her tummy whenever she saw Nathan. The distance that was between them had now been closed and she was standing right in front of him. She had thought that she was going to be nervous about this, but as she stood before the man she had agreed to marry, albeit stupidly, she felt completely confident about her decision, there was no way that she could marry this man, not when she had Nathan, her Nathan, waiting for her.

Tom was jumping around on his feet. He had no idea what Haley was going to say to him, given how pissed she had been the last time they had spoken to each other, which felt like a lifetime ago, but he just hoped that she wouldn't freak out about it. She looked beautiful tonight, there would be no arguing that point, the turquoise dress she had on complemented her skin tone perfectly. She stood in front of him, neither of them saying anything to each other. He leaned in a placed a kiss on her cheek.

Haley had to physically stop herself from recoiling away from him when he leaned into her and kissed her cheek. She felt him reach for her hands and she let him hold them. She wanted desperately to just shout it out to him right now, but she knew she couldn't tell him that she wanted to end things with him in the middle of the lobby of a hotel, that wouldn't be right. "Tom can we go..." Haley started but she was cut off from saying anything else by Tom interrupting her.

"Come on." Tom said as he started to lead them both down the stairs.

_Good. _Haley thought to herself, at least he was leading them away from the lobby so quickly, this way she might be finished with him in five minutes, and then she could get back to Nathan, which was where she longed to be, she needed to be with him.

Tom dropped her right hand and held onto her left, gently squeezing it once they had reached the bottom of the stairs. He walked them both towards a closed door and stopped in front of it. "Haley, I've been a shit and I'm sorry for that but I wanted to do something nice to make it up to you so..." He said as he opened the closed door and pushed Haley through it.

"Surprise!" Haley stopped dead in her tracks and was met with what had to be close to three hundred people screaming at her with huge smiles on their faces.

"Surprise Haley." Tom whispered in her ear, before placing a light kiss on her cheek again and then started to drag her towards all the people who were standing in front of them.

_Fuck! _Haley thought to herself. She couldn't think of anything else... _fuck, fuck, and then more fuck! _How the fuck was she supposed to end things with Tom in a room full of people? She couldn't. _Motherfucker! _She felt herself be marched towards some people standing at the front of the huge crowd and heard Tom introduce her to them. She smiled politely at them and then shut herself off from the conversation. What the fuck was he doing? She felt him walk them both away from the first set of people, only to start moving them over to some more. "Tom can I talk to you please..." Haley hissed in his ear, desperate to know why the hell he had done this... tonight of all fucking nights, and smiled sweetly as someone said their 'congratulations on the engagement' to them both. _Shit so this is an engagement party? Fuck did she have some mess to clear up! _"Now." She whispered harshly to him as she dragged him right out of the door that they had just walked in from and fought the urge to slam it shut, instead opting to close it quietly.

Tom watched as Haley paced in front of him, running her hands through her hair. He knew the second that he had started whispering in his ear that she was pissed at him, but he thought this was what she wanted. "Haley..." He said as he watched her walk around in front of him, trying to get her to stop.

Haley was absolutely furious. "What the fuck is this Tom?" She asked as she flapped her hands towards the door, indicating the surprise engagement party for the engagement which was supposed to be ending right this second.

"What do you mean, 'what the fuck is this?'" Tom asked. "This is an engagement party I arranged for us, as a surprise for you to say sorry about everything, I thought this was what you wanted from me?"

"What I wanted?" Haley hissed at him, desperately trying to control the volume of her voice, fully aware that behind the closed door stood too many people whom she didn't want to hear this argument. "What is wrong with you? We haven't talked in weeks, you send me a text asking me to meet you somewhere, so we can talk, I come and then next thing I know, you have half of flipping Manhattan in a room congratulating me on the fucking engagement?!" Haley shouted, trying to sort through how she had found herself in this mess of a situation.

"You told me that you wanted to meet my friends Haley, you said I hadn't introduced you to anybody and I thought an engagement party would be a pretty good place to do that." Tom answered, confused at why she was going all crazy on him, and also angry at the fact that she didn't seem to appreciate what he had done for her. "You know what Haley, I'm trying to make an effort here, you could at least fucking try too."

_I don't want to fucking try! I want you out of my fucking life!_ Haley thought to herself. She wanted to scream at him until she was blue in the face, she wanted him gone. She wanted Nathan. But she couldn't tell him any of that, not when all these people were in the room next door. Why was it that every time she started to get comfortable with Nathan, Tom would throw a freaking spanner in the works? She sighed deeply, fighting to keep all her anger and emotions under control, knowing that what she had to say to Tom was going to have to wait until another day, and walked back into the room, for right now, all she wanted was to get back to this joke of a party, so that the godforsaken nightmare would end quicker. She turned around and looked at Tom. "You coming back inside?" She asked.

Tom shook his head at her, he was sure she had a screw loose somewhere inside that head of hers, her emotions where all over the place, and walked back inside the room with her, grabbing her left hand, and lacing his fingers with hers, noticing that her finger was empty. "Where's your ring?" He asked as he examined her hand.

_Oh shit! _Haley thought to herself, quickly thinking of a cover up lie. "I did some washing up right before I left and forgot to put it back on." She lied.

"Oh, that's a shame." Tom replied as he walked them both back inside the room.

"Isn't it just." Haley muttered to herself as she allowed Tom to drag her back into the room to meet and greet everybody, grabbing a wine from one of the waiters that was walking past her and downing a large gulp of it quickly, she was going to need all the help she could get if she was going to get through this evening without tearing her hear out in frustration.

~*~

Nathan stood at the bar with Carly and heard the loud 'surprise' that floated through from the other room. He sighed as Carly asked the barman for another wine. "Guess we missed the grand entrance." He noted as he took a sip of his drink.

"Oh well." Carly sing songed as she grabbed her drink from the barman and took a sip of it and leaned into Nathan. "So you work with a lot of these people then?" She asked quietly and watched him nod at her. "So who's single then?"

Nathan rolled his eyes at her, not wishing to inflict her on anyone who worked for him, no one had pissed him off that much, and was thankfully saved from answering her by Lucas who had just walked up to the bar. "Hey man." Nathan greeted him.

"Hey bro." Luke replied and then noticed Carly standing next to him. "Carly! I thought we weren't going to be blessed with your presence until Monday?" Lucas said, surprised to see her here.

"Hi Luke!" Carly greeted him and kissed him on the cheek. "I decided to come early but you'd better bring a huge wad of cash with you on Monday as I have found this amazing investment property, full of potential."

"Glad to hear it." Lucas laughed.

"So where's Brooke?" Carly asked as she looked around the bar trying to spot her.

"She's in the other room, she wanted to see the ring and then tell them both about our photographer or something." Lucas answered and then noticed the barman waiting for his order. "What white wines do you have?" He asked the waiting barman.

Nathan waited for the barman to explain the various white wines they had on offer and then once Lucas had picked one, he spoke. "Dude, they have waiters serving wine, why did you come here for some?"

"Brooke says that the wine they are serving isn't the best they have." Lucas said as he rolled his eyes at his wife's demands and took the wine from the barman. "Anyway, I'd better get this back to her and also say hi to Tom."

Nathan watched as Lucas walked back into the other room and turned to Carly. "You know we should probably go in there and say congratulations to Tom and his fiancée too." Nathan suggested.

"Hello mister!" Carly said huskily with raised eyebrows as she noticed someone who had caught her eye walk into the bar. "Who's that Nate?" She asked as she nudged him, clearly not wanting to leave the bar now she had her eyes on someone.

~*~

Haley and Tom had just finished meeting another boring couple. Haley had also finished her third glass of wine and was about to grab another one when a bubbly brunette bounced up to her.

"Hi Haley, I'm Brooke, Luke's wife. It's so good to finally meet you! Let me see your ring!" Brooke said excitedly as she grabbed Haley's left hand and lifted it up, only to find no ring on her finger. She turned to Tom who was standing next to Haley. "You didn't even buy her a ring?" She asked in shock as she pointed an accusing finger at him.

"He did, I just forgot to put it back on once I had finished the washing up right before I left to come here." Haley lied again.

"Oh, well that's okay then, it's a shame you didn't remember it, I really wanted to see it. But anyway, I wanted to give you the details of the photographer Luke and I used for our wedding, he was brilliant..." Brooke stared.

_There isn't going to be any need for a freaking photographer! _Haley wanted to scream but managed to keep her thoughts to herself. She knew that Brooke was just trying to be nice but she was sick of talking about this non-existent wedding.

Lucas walked up to Brooke just as she was handing the piece of paper she had prepared with the photographer details on it to Haley, who put it inside of her bag. He rolled his eyes at his wife, not for the first time that night, and handed her the wine she had made him order. "Here you go Brooke." He said before turning to Haley and Tom. "Congratulations both of you, I can't believe you're going to be getting married, that's wonderful news!

"Thanks Luke." Haley replied, giving him a small smile, the same one that seemed to be permanently etched onto her face this evening. It was so tiresome, smiling constantly when all she wanted to do was run out of the building screaming her head off.

"Yeah thanks Luke!" Tom replied as he noticed Haley's wine glass was empty and so grabbed her one from the waiter that had just walked past and handed it to her.

Haley looked down at the wine glass Tom had placed in her hands and saw that it was red wine. She didn't even like red wine. She shook her head to herself, wondering how they both could ever have thought, and how Tom could think, that this would ever work, if he didn't know something as simple as that about her, he'd had two fucking years to find out. In her anger, she took a sip from the glass anyway, she'd had one too many anyway and could barely taste it, but it was the principle that mattered.

"By the way, Nathan is at the bar." Lucas informed Tom as he finished drinking his beer and held up to check that the bottle was empty. "I'm going to get another, you want me to show you where he is, it's quite crowded in there."

"Yeah, thanks Luke, that would be great." Tom replied as he placed his hand on Haley's lower back and lead her into the bar, following Lucas. "I can't wait for you to meet my boss, Nathan has been waiting to meet you for ages, I think he thought I was making you up!" Tom joked.

_You may as well have been. _Haley thought to herself. "Oh really." She said with feigned interest as she allowed Tom to walk her towards this boss, well if he was Tom's boss then he was also her boss, but she was not really listening to what was being said, she had to sneak away and call Nathan and let him know what was going on, he was probably wondering what was taking her so long and so she was thinking of a way to excuse herself for long enough to explain all of this charade to him.

~*~

Nathan had just started explaining to Carly, who after about six glasses of wine was well on her way to drunk, in fact she was pretty much already there and had been for the last ten minutes, that Rob from accounting was married and that the woman standing beside him was his wife, and so, no, she could not get introduced to him, and no, she could not flirt with him. He looked up and caught the barman who had his eyes on Carly again and smiled. He knew that look that was on the dude's face, and decided that he would do the barman, himself, and every male in the room a favour. After all, once he had offloaded Carly onto the barman, he could call Haley and find out what was taking her so long, it was well on the way to half eight and she still hadn't called him, he was getting anxious, wondering what was taking her so long, she had said she would be finished by eight... why hadn't she called him then?

"Nathan, Rob from accounting is so hot though. Why don't you distract the wife and then I can see if Rob wants a playmate for the weekend..." Carly whispered loudly to Nathan and then giggled.

Nathan rolled his eyes and rested one of his arms behind Carly on the bar and leaned into her. "Carly, Rob is off limits, okay, but the barman here has been checking you out ever since we arrived." Nathan whispered to her and then raised his eyebrows at her suggestively, hoping that she would take the bait and concentrate her efforts on someone who he did not employ at his company.

~*~

"Haley I am so pleased you are going to finally meet my brother, I was hoping to introduce you to him yesterday when he was in that meeting but I never got a chance to. He really liked the presentation by the way." Lucas rambled as he walked Haley and Tom closer to where he had just seen Nathan at the bar.

"Oh look there he is." Tom said once he spotted Nathan at the bar. "Nathan's really cool Haley, I think you'll really like him."

Just hearing Lucas and Tom talk about this Nathan had Haley thinking out her Nathan, and about how she should have finished breaking up with Tom about half an hour ago and right now should be stripping off her dress and modelling the underwear she had on underneath this dress for her Nathan, who would appreciate what she was wearing immensely, she had no doubts about that. She sighed as she took a sip of the red wine she still had in her hands, bitter at the fact that instead of enjoying an intense orgasm, she was here in this shit of a room with Tom the shit, and lifted her head and looked in the direction that Lucas was leading them in, deciding that as she was about to meet the owner of Scott Investment Management, she'd better be polite and actually listen to this conversation, when she almost spat out the wine that was in her mouth, barely managing to keep the liquid inside of her mouth and then somehow managed to choke on the damn stuff. This had to be some kind of sick joke. She had to be dreaming, this could only be some kind of nightmare. She closed her eyes as she coughed, trying to control her choking, willing herself to wake up but when she opened her eyes, he was still standing there at the bar, she hadn't woken up in her bed, she was still there in the middle of this fucking engagement party.

"Haley are you okay?" Lucas asked as he turned around and saw her choking on something and was coughing like crazy.

Haley was far from okay. Tom was pounding her back but she didn't care that she was choking, in fact, passing out seemed like a good idea right now, all she cared about was the fact that her Nathan was standing at the bar. Nathan who didn't know that she was or had been engaged, the Nathan who all three of them were clearly on their way over to meet. She looked back over at her Nathan, their Nathan, Luke's brother, Tom's boss, the man she was going to leave Tom for, her boss, the owner of Scott Investment Management... fuck! How could she not have known who the fucking owner of the fucking company she worked for was? There had to be a picture of his somewhere, on the intranet, in one of the magazines that she had never read that the company provided to all their staff, there had to be something and she had missed it. Her head was spinning at a thousand miles per hour and she had no idea how she was managing to breathe with all the coughing she was doing, when she heard herself, she was gagging. Tom was pounding on her back even harder than he had been before and Haley could finally feel some air reach her lungs. She breathed in deeply and glanced over at him again when she saw what he was doing. Some bitch was standing right next to him, they were huddled together, whispering about something and his arm looked like it was wrapped around her waist, and all of sudden Haley felt like she couldn't breathe again. Her eyes travelled quickly up and down this woman and yep, she was absolutely stunning, legs up to her fucking armpits, tiny waist, slender, toned body, great breasts, and the kind of brown, wavy, shiny hair that any shampoo commercial would be proud of. She was beautiful and exactly the kind of woman that the owner of Scott fucking Investment Management should be with, and from the looks of things, he was.

"Haley?" Tom tried to get her attention but she seemed distracted and she definitely wasn't listening to him.

Haley felt her chest tighten, what the hell was that bitch doing with her Nathan? What the hell was Nathan doing with that bitch? Was Haley just some little bit on the side to Nathan, was that what was going on between them? At least she had been kind of honest about Tom, at least Nathan knew that Tom existed; at least he knew that she was already in a relationship, whereas Nathan had never said anything to her about this bitch. She didn't know what she was feeling as she continued to watch Nathan whisper and laugh with this person, she was furious, hurt, angry, jealous and upset, she wanted to march right over there and yank his hand away from her, he couldn't be touching the bitch, he should be touching her, but then she remembered where she was and all she knew was that she had to get out of this room, she couldn't be in this hotel for a second longer. "Tom I don't feel well, I have to go." She managed to choke out. She then turned abruptly and walked quickly towards the exit, gulping down the rest of the wine as she walked away, only to crash right into one of the waiters who was carrying a tray full of red wine, which managed to spill right on her stomach, coating her dress in red liquid, the dress that she had bought for him, the one she had now realised that she had bought for no fucking reason whatsoever, which was now completely ruined, just like her and Nathan's relationship seemed to be. The waiter was apologising profusely to her, but she didn't stop to listen, she continued walking and broke into a run once she had picked up some napkins which she didn't use to wipe off the wine from her dress, she used them to wipe the tears that were falling steadfastly down her cheeks.

Lucas watched in shock as Haley ran out of the room. He had seen her watch Nathan and she had seemed paralysed as she looked at him. As far as he was aware, Haley had never met Nathan so how come seeing him made her act like that? He looked over at his brother and eyed him and Carly. He could have sworn that he had seen jealousy clearly in Haley's eyes, but what did she have to be jealous about? She was with Tom.

Tom stood there in disbelief. Haley had been fine thirty seconds ago, and then the minute she had seen Nathan, she flipped. He didn't know what the hell was up with that, but something was definitely wrong there.

"Well that was interesting Tom." He heard someone whisper in his ear.

He turned around and saw Jade grinning at him like a Cheshire cat. "Not now Jade." Tom warned her.

Jade shrugged as she grabbed another wine from a passing waiter. "You sure you're doing the right thing, marrying this girl?"

Tom shook his head at Jade in disbelief and turned back to look at Nathan, who appeared to be wrapped up in the girl he had standing next to him, as he tried to figure out what just happened with Haley.

"I'll be around if you need me." Jade whispered before walking away and heading back to the party.

~*~

Haley slammed the door to the apartment shut and nearly ripped the fucking dress off her body. She knew it was ruined but she walked to the kitchen anyway and threw it inside the washing machine, before she grabbed a tea towel and started to dry her stomach which still had some wine on it, not bothering to turn any lights on, the darkness provided her with the comfort she needed right now. God she couldn't believe how much of a mess she found herself in, how stupid she could have been to think that what she had with Nathan was going anywhere at all, how stupid she was to think for even a second that Nathan Scott could want to be with her. Even if he did, which it was clear from the bitch that had been standing next to him that he didn't want to be with her for the long haul at least, they couldn't be together anyway. Not when Tom worked for him, not when she worked for him.

How could she not have seen that Nathan was hiding someone? They constantly met at hotels; she had never seen his house, so that should have been pretty obvious right? He obviously had that girlfriend, or worse, she could be his wife, sitting at home waiting for him. God and to think that she had just been about to break things off with Tom, and for what? Did Nathan know that she worked for him? Was this all some kind of sick fuck the secretary fantasy he had?

She racked her brains, looking for a clue, a sign, something to help her understand what was going on, but all she could think about were the last couple of days, he had told her that he was falling for her, he told her that she completed him, or was that only that she completed the tiny space left in his heart which his fucking wife or girlfriend or whatever the hell she was couldn't fill for him for some reason? But he had seemed so genuine, she had believed him, she wanted to believe him...

Fuck! She was confused as hell and needed some more alcohol. She remembered that she had seen what she thought was an expensive bottle of scotch in one of the cupboards and pulled it out, grabbing a crystal shot glass as well and slammed them both on the island in the middle of the kitchen and sunk into one of the stools next to it. She pried the lid on the bottle open and even though the bottle didn't belong to her, it was Luke's friends; she poured herself a shot and downed it quickly, wincing as the warm liquid moved down her throat. She poured herself another shot and downed that too, wanting to do nothing but forget about the pain and confusion hat was ripping her body in two.

The fourth shot had just been downed and Haley could already feel the pain in the pit of her stomach start to numb slightly. She poured herself a fifth shot but instead of slamming the bottle back down on the counter, she pulled it back up to her lips and gulped straight from the bottle. She placed it back down once she had swallowed a large gulp and looked down at herself, seeing the underwear that Nathan had picked out for her on herself and closed her eyes when she felt them begin to well up. She bet that he bought the bitch underwear all the time, and she probably looked a thousand times sexier in it than she did.

An hour later, Haley still hadn't moved from her spot in the kitchen. The bottle of scotch was now more than half empty and as numb as Haley felt, she could still feel all the anger and contempt ranging through her body, as well as the pain of what was going on with her and Nathan, the confusion, she was sure no amount of alcohol could stop her from feeling that. She laid her head down on the marble counter top and enjoyed the coolness the surface brought to her. She had to figure out how she was going to handle this situation, what was she going to do? Was she going to stay with Tom? What was she going to say to Nathan when she saw him next? Would she believe anything he said anyway? Would she even see him again? Had she just acted completely irrationally? Was it all completely innocent? God she needed to sleep.

~*~

Nathan stood outside of the taxi, waiting for Carly to stop flirting with the damn driver, who looked like all his Christmases had come at once and was obviously enjoying the attention she was lavishing him with. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw yet again that he had no missed calls from Haley. He had long since moved on from the anxious stage, and was now just scared. What if her boyfriend had asked her to stay with him? What if she had said yes? And quite frankly, given that it was now ten o'clock, which was two hours after she had told him that she was going to call him, that was the only explanation he could come up with. And that scared the shit out of him. He ran a hand tiredly through his hair and started thinking about what he would do if she really had decided to stay with him and was going to end things with him, but quickly stopped, he couldn't think like that until he had talked to her, he couldn't bear to think about her not being with her, tonight was supposed to be the beginning, their beginning, not the end, it couldn't be.

Luckily, he had Carly to distract his thoughts from wandering into even more dangerous and depressing territory. He grabbed her hand and forced her out of the taxi, handing the driver a note before leading her inside. They took the elevator up, there was no way Carly would be able to navigate her way up the stairs in her drunken state and when they finally got to the door, he fumbled around for his key and opened the door.

The apartment was pitch black when he walked inside. He flipped the hallway light on and threw his keys down on the side table, before he led Carly further inside. It seemed his tenant wasn't in, which he was pleased about, this way he could slip Carly in the bed and leave the tenant a note explaining that she was staying the night, without her ever knowing who he was, which would keep Luke quiet. He looked at Carly who seemed completely out of it and was muttering something about 'loving this place' as her eyes opened wide in awe of his apartment, which she had seen plenty of times before when she had been visiting the city previously, and anyway it was, quite frankly, just a normal New York penthouse, there wasn't really anything special about it. He walked further along the hallway, realising that he didn't know which bedroom the tenant had chosen, and prayed that it was the one upstairs; he didn't fancy having to carry Carly up the stairs. He walked to the door of the downstairs bedroom and timidly opened the door, finding it just as he had left it. He walked inside and peeked in some of the drawers, luckily finding them empty and grabbed Carly. "Okay, you can stay in here. I'll call and check on you in the morning okay? Just go straight to sleep; you're going to have a killer hangover in the morning."

"Okay!" Carly said happily as she flopped onto the bed.

Nathan shook his head at his drunk friend and shut the door behind him, glancing once more at his phone, yet again finding nothing from Haley. "Shit!" He muttered to himself as he ran his hand through his hair. He remembered the bottle of insanely expensive scotch he had in the top cupboard which he had been saving for a special occasion, and Haley breaking it off with him seemed a good an occasion as any to crack the bottle open and drown his sorrows. He walked towards the kitchen which was also bathed in darkness and flipped the switch which caused the under lighting from the cupboards to come on when he jumped out of his skin.

"Fucking hell." He exclaimed when he found Haley standing in front of him, a look of complete shock etched on her face, exactly mirroring his own. The shock soon wore off as his eyes drifted down her body as he took in every single inch of her, complete euphoria running through him at the fact that she was standing in the kitchen of his apartment dressed in the most fucktastic underwear ever. He knew that she would look phenomenal in it. His eyes travelled to her breasts, her cleavage looking amazing in the bra, it was so tempting, he had to clench his fists to the sides of his body to stop from reaching out and grabbing them, but he wanted to take the time to appreciate her in what he had picked out for her. His eyes continued to roam her body, the turquoise and black lace looked stunning on her. His gaze wandered down her slender stomach to the panties which he was definitely going to rip right off her in about thirty seconds, and then travelled further down her legs to the hold ups which fitted her curvy legs to perfection. All of a sudden, the realisation that she was here hit him. "How did you know that this was my apartment?" He asked, finding himself distracted by her body as his gaze wandered slowly back up her body as he took in all her amazing sensual curves.

"Nathan, can you help me, oh!" Carly said as she stumbled drunkenly into the kitchen where she found Nathan, taking in the girl who was standing in front of her. "Hey look, we're wearing the same underwear!"

Nathan completely ignored Carly, he was completely mesmerised by Haley. His gaze travelled further up past her breasts again and rested on her incredibly.... pissed off face. Shit was she angry? He was about to shout at Carly to go back into the bedroom as he was about five seconds from pouncing on Haley, pissed off or not, he didn't really care, he would soon be making her scream for all the right reasons anyway, when he watched as she picked up the shot glass off the table and hurled it at the wall behind him, smashing the crystal into a million and one pieces which narrowly missed his head. Fuck yes... she was absolutely livid...

**AN – Okay, that's it guys and wow that was long! You'll notice that there is still a lot left under wraps... at this point, Haley is the only one that knows everything, but the seeds of suspicion have definitely been planted, and I know exactly the way Lucas, Tom and of course Nathan are going to find out the full details of what is going on... and it's interesting to say the least!**

**I also wanted to remind you guys that Haley has had a lot to drink in the last part of the chapter... so that's partly why she's acting like this..!**

**I wanted Haley and Nathan to find out about them and their part in all the drama before anyone else, as I feel that they need to decide what they are doing about their situation before anyone else finds out... so even if this wasn't the way that you saw all this happening, I hope that you guys liked the chapter, let me know by leaving me a review... and boy is there some more drama in the next couple of chapters! x**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN – Okay guys, I love every single one of you that reviewed that last chapter! I mean it, you all totally like made my year! I was so nervous about posting that chapter because it was so pivotal to the whole plot and basically was a big deal to the whole story... and I know that you all had your little theories about how it should all go down and I was worried that you all wouldn't like what I had planned or whatever, so THANK YOU all so much for making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Seriously, if I had the money, I would fly each and every one of you over to London and buy you all a big drink just to say thanks, and also for the fact that it would obviously be a hell of a lot of fun! And that last chapter was so long so well done for actually getting through it and finishing it! It really did kill me writing it... I'm now ill as I write this next chapter – but I'm getting a bit better now, although I'm still coughing like an absolute lunatic though!**

**As per usual, I responded to those reviews that I could, but as always, to those of you who took the time to review and don't have a fanfiction account, thanks so much and please keep leaving the comments, I love hearing from you guys! Just a few words to each of you:**

**Fetchromance – Thank you so much for leaving that review – it really puts a big smile on my face to know that you don't usually review but wanted to after reading that chapter, and I'm so pleased that you are enjoying this story, hearing from readers really does make the days it takes getting these chapters out worthwhile!**

**Shelley – The underwear thing was actually the first thing that I thought about when I thought of the reveal, purely because I thought it would be hilarious if Haley was caught in Nathan's apartment wearing nothing but the very underwear he had bought for her... and Carly wearing exactly the same stuff just makes the whole situation more interesting..!**

**Keeta – Thank you so much for your wonderful comments! Nathan is going to find out everything eventually so keep reading to find out what his reaction will be to all the drama. As for the happy ending... well just wait and see! **

**Kelly – I'm glad you liked the last chapter! Nathan, Lucas and Tom finding out about what is going on is coming up soon so I hope you like the way that they all eventually find out about each other!**

**Jess – I'm glad you liked the length of the chapter – not sure if there will be one quite as long as that for a while yet as it took me so long to get it ready and I'm pleased you enjoyed the update! And this one is fairly long too..! So I hope you enjoy!**

**Maria – Sorry for leaving the last chapter like that! I'm happy I managed to surprise you with the way the plot of the story moved forward in the last update and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Kelly – Aw thanks so much, I'm glad you are enjoying the story and hope you like this chapter too!**

**MamaMia23 – I'm pleased you like the story!**

**Mel – Glad you enjoyed the length of the chapter! And I'm happy that I managed to surprise you too with the way the plot moved on in the last chapter and I'm so pleased you are enjoying my writing!**

**Lynn – Thanks for the review – I'm glad you are enjoying the story and your comments were lovely! As for the screaming at the way the last chapter ended... well I apologize for leaving it where I did and I hope you like this update! (Let me know what you do with this chapter..!)**

**Daize – Lol, your comment made me laugh, I hope that was an 'OH MY GOD' in a good way, right?!**

**Shelly – Thanks so much for your amazing comments, sorry to end the last chapter where I did! Hope you enjoy this one!**

**Leigh Anne – Thanks for your lovely comments, sorry to leave the last chapter on a cliff hanger like that and I hope you enjoy this update!**

**Can you guys believe that it's April already (which is totally the best month of the year because it's my birthday near the end of the month!), how quickly is this year going?! And WOW have you guys seen that promo for the rest of the OTH season... I'm not going to say anything if you haven't watched it but I will just say this – YAY! **

**Anyway, on with this story after a humungous AN (sorry about the rambling guys...but you know what I'm like, I can't help myself!) maybe this will be a long update after all given that I seem to be in an incredibly chatty mood! I'm going to go back in time just a little bit at the start of this chapter, just to get Haley's perspective of what is going on as I think it is needed given that the ending of the previous chapter was all Nathan, so I hope you don't mind about that. So there is still a LOT under wraps at the moment, only Haley knows that Nathan is her boss, Tom's boss etc etc... but just how long will it be before someone else finds out something, and how much will they find out when they do... and will it be Lucas? Nathan? Tom? Hmmm... I wonder...**

**Hope you guys enjoy this update and I'll chat to you again at the bottom... x**

**Chapter Eleven**

Haley sat alone in the darkened kitchen with her head resting on the counter in exactly the same position she had been in for the past hour or so. She was trying desperately to sort through her thoughts in a rational manner, but given the amount of alcohol she had consumed that evening, she knew that her efforts were absolutely futile and that her thoughts were most probably completely irrational, but she couldn't help that she was feeling sorry for herself and wallowing, how else was she supposed to act in this kind of situation? But it wasn't just the alcohol that was affecting her, her head was spinning at a rate that she couldn't even fathom, making her efforts to try to understand how she was feeling about the completely scandalous and what could only be described as outrageous situation that she now found herself in, incredibly difficult. However, she knew that she had to try to get a grasp on what she was going to do about it all, she had to find some form of a reasonable solution, and so she carefully and slowly lifted her head off the surface and placed both her hands on the counter as she did so, helping to steady herself. Her head was absolutely pounding and she could barely hold it upright for it felt like it weighed a million tonnes, but she forced herself to ignore the throbbing and heaviness and closed her eyes for a brief second, willing herself to concentrate on what she was thinking and feeling. She took a deep breath and then she started to organise her thoughts, hating the fact that she had to concentrate on what she had seen previously that night, despising the fact that she had to think of Nathan belonging to anyone but her.

The first thought that was running so clearly through her mind was that of complete fury at Nathan, and that didn't surprise Haley once she thought more clearly about the situation she was in. She didn't understand why he had kept this other woman from her; he knew about Tom, okay so he didn't know the absolute specifics of her relationship with him but he knew that she had a boyfriend at least, one that she was completely willing to leave so that she could be with him properly. But what was really bothering Haley at the moment was the fact that if he had told her about this woman at the start, then they would have both been on a level playing field, both of them trapped in exactly the same circumstances, they could have talked about how they were going to tackle this together. But Nathan hadn't told her about this other woman and therefore that thought left only one conclusion in her mind, and that was that he hadn't told her about the bitch because he didn't want her to know that she existed, because he had no intention whatsoever to leave this woman for her, unlike her intentions of leaving Tom for Nathan.

And that thought sent an abundance of emotions coursing through her entire being. She was so jealous that the bitch would have more of Nathan than she could ever hope to have, she was so pissed off at Nathan for keeping something like this from her, for not being truthful about his own relationship status all those months ago when they had first met and she was absolutely seething at the fact that, even after she had told him that she wanted to be with him properly, he still hadn't told her about this other woman. She couldn't believe the enormity of the situation she found herself in, and what really scared her was that she had absolutely no idea how long Nathan planned to stick around with her, she was more than convinced that affairs with random women was something he probably felt was normal and acceptable behaviour, especially now she knew who he was, and she was pretty sure that she was obviously one of many women that there had been in the past, and one of the many that were likely to flood into his life in the future.

But the worst part of her being armed with all that knowledge was the fact that she didn't know if she would be strong enough to walk away from him at all. She couldn't explain the feelings that she felt when she was near him but she just felt complete, alive and incredibly happy, it was like she belonged with him, and she had this yearning for him that spread through her whole body, shamelessly intoxicating her with this absolute need for him and him only, which she had thought Nathan felt for her too. And although she wasn't completely sure, she did think that what she felt for him was much more than just pure lust, there was a very good possibility that she had started to fall in love with him. And that just made this whole mess even more screwed up that it was already.

Haley quickly pushed those feelings aside though, as she didn't want to get herself any more deeply tangled in this web of Nathan than she already was, for admitting her true feelings would make it that much harder to break free from this hold that he had over her. And she would have to at some point, she knew that, especially now she knew that not only did he have a wife or whatever the hell that bitch was to him, he was also her fucking boss.

God she could just see it now, the reaction that everyone would have back at the office if word ever got out that she had been having an affair with Nathan, there was no doubt at all in Haley's mind that everyone would go absolutely berserk over the news, the gossip mill at Scott Investment Management would be in full swing, that much could be guaranteed. They would all surely question how she had managed to get the job in the first place, completely disregarding her competence in her work, and assuming that the job had just been handed to her on a fucking plate because she had fucked the owner, hell she knew that the same thoughts would be running through her mind too if the woman in question wasn't herself, it was the obvious answer to what had been going on between her and Nathan. No one would believe that she didn't actually know who the hell he was when they had started this relationship... affair... or whatever the hell had been going on between them both.

And then there was also the fact that once Lucas found out, he would be so pissed at her that he would be sure to fire her anyway, so the need for dismissal on the grounds of kicking the asses of the office bitches that would no doubt bitch about her wouldn't be needed after all. She had only just found out that Nathan was Lucas' brother, if she had known this vital piece of information before, then she would never have got involved with her manager's brother, that was just twisted, particularly as Lucas would probably know this other woman quite well, and Haley would end up being the bitch that was trying to tear Nathan's relationship apart, when she didn't even know that he had a relationship with anyone but herself in the first place. And if she got fired, then she would lose the apartment, as she was sure that Lucas wouldn't want to let her have it, and given that it was his friend who owned it, well she didn't stand a chance at fighting for it, and there was no way in hell that she would be able to pay the market rent for something like this unless she won the lottery... and then with no job, no money, no apartment, she would have to return home, with her tail tucked firmly in between her legs and her head hung in shame because she would have failed at trying to make something of herself in this city.

But there was also something else that she needed to consider in all of this madness, there was Tom, and if he ever found out about what had happened, well there was no fucking knowing what the hell he would do, he would be absolutely beside himself, she knew that much, he was such a control freak anyway, and knowing that she had been sleeping with someone else behind his back would unleash a whole host of monsters and craziness that she just didn't even want to think about right now.

She lifted her hands from the work surface and placed them on her face, rubbing her eyes as she leant on her elbows and her mind started spinning again, there was just far too much for her to think about. However, she was soon jolted from having to think about anything related to the disaster that was her life at the moment, when she heard the front door opening. She jumped off the stool she was sitting on once she heard the door close and practically fell over in the process, only just managing to stop the half full bottle of scotch from falling off the work surface to the ground as she knocked it over with her hands in all her fumbling. "Shit!" She mumbled to herself as she steadied herself and the bottle, standing up straight again once she had caught her balance. She looked over at the door to the kitchen, unsure of what she should do. She didn't know who the hell had just walked into the apartment, and she could only presume that it was either Lucas or the owner of the place, but she didn't think that Lucas had a key to the apartment anyway, so it had to be the owner, who Luke had said was his friend. She completely panicked when she realised this, looking down at her scantily clad body, seeing that she was still only dressed in the underwear that Nathan had given her, wishing that some clothes had magically appeared on her body since she had taken that dress off earlier, which of course they hadn't, and groaned to herself, what a fucking way to meet the landlord, dressed like an absolute slut, _fuck!_ Not that she shouldn't be surprised in any way about this new turn of events, today was officially the day from hell, and it seemed that every little fucking thing that could be fucked up in her life was headed that way anyway, so why should the first time that she was meeting her landlord be any different? She turned around on the spot, desperately trying to find something to cover herself up with, only to find nothing but a tea towel that was placed on the handle of the oven which would barely cover what she was already showing anyway and so gave up looking. Instead she decided to remain as quiet as she could in the kitchen and hoped that Lucas' friend would just go away quickly without even realising that she was there.

She listened carefully to what was going on outside of the kitchen, and could hear a female voice in the hallway, sounding a bit worse for wear and muttering things about the apartment. She could also hear some footsteps moving just outside of the kitchen, footsteps that didn't sound like they belonged to a female, and what she presumed to be the downstairs bedroom door open. She then heard a faint male voice, and held her breath as she realised that this had to be the owner of the apartment, Luke's friend. She closed her eyes for a second, praying that he hadn't bought some skank back to the apartment for the night, as that would certainly make for some interesting breakfast conversation in the morning, but then she heard the door to the bedroom close and let out a sigh of relief at the fact that the owner hadn't come into the kitchen for anything. She silently thanked God who at least seemed to be on her side about something in her life that evening and then she decided that it was time that she went to bed, and so turned to face the counter again; deciding that she should hide the bottle of scotch that she had been drinking given that it wasn't hers, and replace it before the owner of the apartment, and said bottle of scotch, realised that she had drunk any of it, when the lights to the kitchen flipped on.

She abruptly turned around to face the person who had walked into the kitchen and before she had the chance to register anything, her mouth dropped open in complete and utter disbelief as she saw Nathan standing in front of her. She vaguely heard him say something to her, it sounded like a swear word or something along those lines, but she was so full of shock at the fact that he was here, that what he had just said didn't register in her brain at all. Her heart was beating at a million times a minute as she watched him, the look of shock that she was here clearly evident on his face too, and that confused her slightly, as what other reason would he have for coming to this apartment other than to see her? It didn't make any sense that he looked so perplexed at her being here. Her heart was still beating erratically from the fright she had received when he had flipped the lights on, and she was still so shocked at how he could have known that this was her place, no explanation would fit, she was wracking her brains for the reason but was left completely puzzled by the fact that he was here.

She then suddenly remembered hearing the woman's voice in the hallway and realised that she must be the other woman that she had seen him with at the engagement party and that thought alone just made the fury course through her whole body again, why the hell had he bought her back here? Did he really want to fucking torture her that much? She watched as Nathan's eyes roamed her body, taking in what she was wearing, obviously liking what he was seeing, and that just made her even more enraged with him, what a fucking bastard, she was starting to think that she didn't even know him at all, this Nathan standing in front of her was nothing like her Nathan. How dare he bring some woman back to her apartment, and then have the audacity to look at her like he wanted to fuck her senseless. She had opened her mouth and was just about to start shouting her head off at him, ready to literally smack that look of lust right off his face, when she heard him say something about this being his apartment, and that completely threw her train of thought off to some other place entirely. His apartment? This was her apartment. What the fuck did he mean by that? She was about to ask him what he was talking about, when her eyes went as wide as saucers, the craziness of this fucked up situation getting shittier and shitter as the seconds rolled on. The bitch that he had been with all night had just walked into the kitchen and stood right beside Nathan.

She felt her heart rate pick up a couple more notches, which should have been absolutely impossible given the way that it had been beating prior to the whore making her presence known. But it wasn't just the fact that the bitch was here, in her apartment that caused her to get so outraged, it was the fact that she was dressed in exactly the same fucking underwear that she was wearing. She nearly scoffed at that, but she was so distraught that what she had feared about Nathan and this woman was now certainly true, she couldn't even get the sound out of her body. Then she heard the bitch speak, pointing out the more than obvious fact that they were wearing the same underwear, just rubbing salt even further into her already gaping wounds. And she wished that she could come up with some smart comment to really put her in her place, but her brain was like a sieve, all it could contain was the repeated thought that Nathan was nothing but a complete and utter bastard for doing this to her.

She was absolutely irate at the fact that Nathan still hadn't offered her a fucking explanation for all of this lunacy, so when she finally felt his gaze rest on her face, instead of glaring at her body, she lost control completely, the need to wipe that fucking smirk off his face was too much, she needed to make him realise how much he was hurting her, she needed him to understand that this madness that she suddenly found herself a part of was not okay. So she turned her head slightly and spotted the shot glass that she hadn't used since she had taken a shot of scotch when she had walked into the apartment earlier that evening on the counter, and grabbed it with her hand, throwing it as hard as she could in the general vicinity of Nathan, watching with satisfaction as it crashed against the wall and broke into a million little pieces, it all felt rather symbolic really, shattered glass, shattered heart.

Nathan could feel his breathing rate increasing as he looked back up from the floor which was now covered in shattered shot glass, to Haley, he knew that she was angry, he could have told anyone that before she had decided to throw the damn glass, but he had no idea what had got her so mad, and as much as he just wanted to walk right over to her and rip that underwear off her as promised, he knew that now was not the time. From the look on Haley's face, if he so much as touched her at the moment, she would flip out on him even more so than she was already doing. He watched her chest rise and fall in time with her sporadic breathing, and had to fight off the groan that threatened to escape from his lips as he saw her breasts move against that bra that he had purchased for her, the very bra that he had been fantasising about ever since he had seen the damn thing in the shop, which created the most fucking enticing cleavage he had ever seen. He longed to walk up to her and trace his finger around the curve of her breast, slowly and torturously making the circles smaller, gradually moving closer and closer to her nipple until she was crying out for him to touch her, to taste her. _Shit._ He needed to distract himself from her, he could feel his hands itching to grab her and shove her against the first thing he could find, his cock was already rock hard, struggling inside of his tight fitting trousers, needing to be inside of her right this very moment, and so he forced his hand up from his side and ran it through his hair, trying desperately to keep it occupied on anything but her. It would appear that tonight, Haley would be the death of him, be that by him abstaining from the very thing that he needed to do at that very moment to stay alive, literally fuck the life out of her, or with her very own hands. He made a bet with himself that from the look of her, her hands would win that one, and that thought was deeply unsettling.

Haley had counted the minutes that had passed since the fucking bitch had walked in and she had thrown that shot glass at Nathan. Seven minutes. Seven fucking minutes had passed and he still hadn't said a fucking word. She continued counting, afraid of what she would do to Nathan or the bitch, or both of them in fact if she thought of anything else. Lawyers and court appearances would be needed, that much she did know. She took an extremely loud, deep breath and resumed counting. _Seven minutes and one second... seven minutes and two seconds..._

Nathan continued to watch Haley, fully aware of the deathly silence that was filling the room, and also fully aware that her anger didn't seem to be dissipating, instead it seemed to be intensifying. And as much as he wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, as much as he wanted to wash away her anger with some form of soothing words that he knew she needed, he couldn't get his mind out of the gutter, he couldn't help that every couple of seconds, his eyes would drop from her face to her body, lingering on those suspender clips that were holding up the black lacy material that covered her incredibly shapely legs, the turquoise panties that barely covered her at all, and then his eyes would move up her slender stomach and linger on her fucking stunning breasts that were covered by the turquoise and black lace bra. He'd never seen her dressed in something like this before and she looked so fucking sexy, better that he could have ever imagined, and he felt that all consuming need to touch her rush through him again, any part of her would do, he just needed some contact with her smooth skin, and so he took a tentative step forward with a determined expression on his face, wanting to gauge her reaction, wondering if her anger she was feeling was something that he could swatted away with sex, angry sex was always fucking hot and he wanted to try it out on Haley, hopeful that once he had finished with her, she wouldn't remember what she had been so furious about in the first place.

_Eight minutes and twelve seconds... _Haley continued counting but stopped altogether when she watched Nathan take a step forward towards her, she saw that he had that look in his eyes, the look that she was all too familiar with and almost laughed, except it wasn't fucking funny at all, and so her laughter died in her throat instead. He couldn't be serious, surely? Not with the bitch still in the fucking room. Not without even saying a motherfucking word to her. But her fears were confirmed when she saw him take another slow but deliberate step towards her, and she watched the expression in his eyes change from that of hesitation to that of... victory? Relief? She started to shake her head in utter disbelief at his intentions, it seemed he really had just come over here to fuck her senseless after being out with his whoever the fuck that bitch was to him first, which caused the fury to return in full swing, not that it had ever really left her, and she quickly turned around from where she was standing and reached for the first thing her hands could find again, this time it was a drawer, which contained cooking utensils, which would do. She grabbed a handful of them and spun right back around to Nathan and started throwing them at him as hard as she could, literally boiling with rage.

_Shit. _Nathan thought to himself, sex obviously wasn't going to solve anything right now, he quickly realised when she started throwing wooden spoons at him. He sighed in frustration and took two steps back so he was standing exactly where he had started, only he needed to take another step back to dodge a wayward spatula, managing somehow to successfully block the barrage of utensils from hitting him until she threw three at once, and he only managed to block one of them, the other two landed somewhere on his body. He could deal with one, but three was cheating, and he was getting tired of playing what he now realised was a stupid game with her and there was also the fact that silence was getting him absolutely nowhere. He lowered his hands just as another utensil smacked his arm. "For fucks sake Haley, stop throwing that shit!" He shouted.

Haley was just about to throw a fish slice as him but stopped when she heard him speak. "So you haven't lost your fucking voice then?" She said loudly, her voice dripping with sarcasm, her breathing still occurring at a ridiculous pace, her shoulders rising and falling rapidly in time with her breathing.

Nathan held his hands out in front of him, ready to block the next piece of equipment that was no doubt going to be thrown his way at any given second, concentrating on protecting himself instead of listening to her. "What?" He asked, sure to listen when she repeated what she had asked him.

"You have been standing here for a good fucking eight minutes and twelve seconds Nathan and you haven't so much as given me a hint of an explanation to all of this shit." Haley raged as she flung her arms around in the air, fish slice still in her hand, showing him exactly what she meant by 'this shit', essentially, her life.

"I don't know what you're talking about Haley." Nathan responded calmly, all the while keeping an eye on the dreaded fish slice. The metal on the fucking thing looked like it would hurt. He didn't even realise that he had a fucking fish slice but he was regretting buying it now.

Haley scoffed at his complete oblivious and nonchalant behaviour. "How can you not know what I am fucking talking about Nathan, she's standing right fucking next to you, dressed in the same fucking underwear that you..." Haley screamed as she threw the fish slice at him and then turned to gather some more weapons from the open drawer.

Nathan shook his head in confusion at her words, who the fuck was she talking about? She had obviously gone completely fucking psychotic on him. But to humour her he turned his head and his eyes grew wide when he saw Carly standing next to him, he had completely forgotten that she had been standing there, he hadn't even realised that she was in the room, he had been so captivated by Haley dressed in that underwear that nothing else had registered with him. Carly was still completely out of it and looked like she was trying to form some sort of conclusion as to what the hell was going on here, rather like he had been doing, only now things were starting to become a little clearer to him, especially when he saw that Carly really was wearing the same underwear that Haley had on. His eyes grew even wider when he thought he had realised what Haley had been banging on about. She can't think that he was seeing Carly? That was absolutely ludicrous. He turned his head back to Haley, needing to explain the situation as quickly as possible, but was distracted by the fish slice landing in his stomach. He looked up again at her once he had recovered from the blow he had just taken, which hurt like a motherfucker, and saw that she had another stash of artillery ready to use against him in her hands.

"... Fucking bought for me." She continued. "What did Scott fucking Investment Management invest in the designer that makes this underwear and you got some sort of motherfucking discount and so decided to dress all of your fucking women in the same stuff?" Haley sneered at him. "Or are you just fucking the designer too? I mean you probably..."

Nathan had heard enough, he needed to sort this shit out right now. "All my fucking women? Haley you are my only fucking woman." Nathan shouted over her voice, interrupting her but he didn't care. He needed her to understand and so calmed his voice down, taking deep breaths before he spoke again. "There is no one else."

"Don't you fucking lie to me Nathan. I saw you. I saw you with her." Haley said as she felt all the hurt and betrayal rush through her, dropping the equipment on the floor as she spoke and stepped over it all, nearly tripping over the spaghetti server, unsure if this was due to her drunkenness or the fact that she was just so enraged with him, and pointed at Carly to emphasise who she meant, hating the fact that the tears she had been striving to keep at bay ever since she had walked into the apartment now seemed to be welling up in her eyes, cursing the fact that one of them spilled over and ran down her cheek. She didn't want Nathan to see how hurt she was about this, she wanted to be strong, she didn't want to break down in front of him. But she felt so defeated, standing in front of what could only be described as a goddess, the bitch looked a thousand times better in the underwear that she did, her long legs thinner than hers, her waist much more shapely, her hair much more shiny, her face so much prettier that hers. And she despised the fact that Nathan was flaunting what she could never be right in front of her face. It was just cruel. She brought her hand up and hastily wiped the tear away with her fingers, before realising that she couldn't look at her anymore, and so turned away from the bitch and faced the counter again, crossing her arm protectively around her chest as the other hand was used to wipe away her stray tears.

Nathan couldn't believe that she was crying. But more importantly, he couldn't believe that she could even think for a second that he was seeing anyone else when all he wanted was her. But as much as he wanted to tell her all of this, he didn't understand some of what he had just said to him, he didn't understand why she could think it, or how she could think it. "Carly, go back to the bedroom and go to sleep." Nathan ordered, not tearing his eyes away from Haley, who was still crying, he could tell by the way her hand was wiping at her cheek. He waited until he heard the bedroom door close, indicating that Carly had left the room, and then he turned around to close the kitchen door, satisfied now that they were alone and could sort this crap out. His hand lingered on the door handle, as he tried to control his anger at Haley. "How can you even fucking think for a second that there is anything going on between me and anybody else?" He said bitterly as he turned back around to face Haley's back.

Haley sighed as she bit down on her lip, wondering if she should go for complete honesty here, but when she realised that Nathan was going to deny all of what she had been thinking, all of what she knew was true, she decided not to, what the hell was the point in being honest if he wasn't going to reciprocate? So instead she took a deep breath and turned around to face him again, still wiping away at the tears that were silently falling down her face. "I told you how I know. I saw you with her. And now she is here. Not only have you bought her here, but she is wearing the same fucking underwear that I am wearing which can't just be some convenient coincidence Nathan, I'm not going to buy that bullshit. So that is how I know." Haley replied resentfully.

"You're fucking right that this is bullshit Hales. This whole thing is one big pile of fucking bullshit." He shouted. He clenched his fists at his sides, the rage making his body shake, but he had to control himself, he couldn't completely lose it. How she could even think those things, how she could doubt his feelings for her was making him so angry at her that he almost lost it again when the thoughts ran through his mind once more; he was trying desperately to piece together the craziness that Haley was assuming. But how had she seen him with Carly? The only place he had been tonight was at Tom's engagement party and then here at his apartment, that just didn't make sense. And she had mentioned his company's name, how the hell did she know about that when he had never told her where he worked? "Where did you see me with Carly then?" Nathan threw the question at her, hoping that he was going to catch her out and make her realise that she hadn't seen him with her at all, she couldn't have, it was impossible. She had to be lying and was using this as some excuse for something.

Haley breathed in a sharp gasp of air as she realised her mistake. _Fuck. _She couldn't tell him that she had been at the engagement party, that it was her engagement party. "That doesn't matter Nathan." She replied quickly through clenched teeth, praying that he would drop it, and then decided to ask him a question of her own, partly because she wanted to know and also because she wanted to distract him from asking her where she had seen him tonight. "So how long have you and her been together?"

Nathan snapped his head up and looked Haley right in the eyes. "I already told you that there is nothing going on between Carly and I. What part of those words are you failing to understand?" He spoke through gritted teeth, wanting to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she fucking realised that fact, until his words finally settled in her brain.

Haley took another deep breath and averted her eyes from him; she couldn't look at him at the moment, it hurt too much knowing that he was still lying to her, even after she had tried to call him out on it; all she wanted was for him to be honest with her so she could decipher all this madness. Yet he spoke with such conviction, and she did want to believe him, but the way she had seen him with the bitch tonight, they had seemed so comfortable together and they had looked like a couple, a couple that had been together for a very long time, and so she just concluded that he must be a really good liar instead. So she decided in that moment that she wasn't going to fall for his stories, but she had to sort this shit out right now, she needed to get to the bottom of this craziness. "I'm failing to understand because it doesn't make sense Nathan. Why was it that when we were together we never went to your place, why were we always meeting at hotels?" She asked in a loud voice.

Nathan shook his head, she was unbelievable, how the hell was she concocting all this crap? "Why did we never go to your place?" He threw back. It was a legitimate question for him to ask her too, he knew that she didn't live with her boyfriend, so why the hell had she never offered for them to use her place?

"The reason I didn't ask you back here was out of respect for my landlord. I didn't know when he was going to be coming over, if at all, and I didn't think the best way for me to be introduced to him was while I was fucking you." Haley shouted back, tightening her grip around her chest. "And from seeing the bitch that was just in here with you, it's pretty damn obvious why you didn't invite me back to your place. Wifey wouldn't like that shit flaunted in her face now would she?"

"God Haley!" Nathan roared. "Now not only do you think that I have some fucking stash of women hidden away somewhere, but you think I'm married to Carly too?! What kind of a person do you think I am?" Nathan was getting so frustrated; he was just about ready to pull all of his hair out. She was insane. That was the only explanation to all of this shit.

"I don't fucking know who you are at all Nathan, that much has been made very clear tonight." Haley screeched back, releasing her arms from her chest and throwing them around for more emphasis.

Nathan needed to punch something, this was getting out of hand, but instead he backtracked for a second, running over what she had said to him tonight in his head, again trying to piece together all the information, trying to work out what the hell was going on, when he realised that he had missed something from what she had said to him. "What do you mean, 'you didn't bring me back here'?" Nathan asked, confusion etched over his face.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Haley asked exasperatedly, wondering why he was asking her that now, wondering what direction his insane and twisted mind was headed in now.

"This is my apartment Haley. So what did you mean when you said you didn't 'bring me back here', in fact, how the hell did you even know that this was my place?" Nathan asked, waiting for an explanation. She had to know something else. She wasn't telling him everything.

Haley shook her head at him. "This is my place Nathan. I live here."

Nathan laughed at her. "Well I can assure you that I own this place. This is my apartment." He returned seriously.

Haley shook her head more vigorously at him. "No you don't own this place. This apartment belongs to my boss' friend." She replied. _And you are his fucking brother, not his friend. _She continued in silence to herself.

Nathan shook his head right back at her. What did she mean her boss' friend owned his apartment? He closed his eyes for a brief second but instantly regretted doing so as when he opened them again, he found that his eyes were glued to her chest once again. God she had the most fucking perfect breasts he had ever seen. The desire to touch and taste her was becoming all too much for him to handle, he couldn't believe that he had been standing in this room with her for God knows how many minutes and had managed to restrain himself from touching her. But it would seem that the resolve he had over Haley only lasted for a set amount of time, as fortunately for him, it just seemed to be getting weaker and weaker as time moved on. He managed with concerted effort to pry his eyes up from her body, up towards her face and cleared his throat as he tried to remember what they had been talking about before he had been distracted. The apartment, Haley said that she lived here, which was stupid because it was his place, then she mentioned that it was her boss' friends place, but the tenant who lived here was Luke's secretary... his brow started to furrow as he tried to put two and two together... it couldn't be? "You're Luke's secretary?" He half stated, half asked, still so confused as to how that could even be possible.

Haley's mouth dropped open. God this couldn't be happening, how the hell had he managed to work that one out so quickly? How that hell was her being in this apartment and Lucas connected for Nathan of all people to come to such accurate conclusions? _Shit. _She thought to herself. She was fully aware that she had no option other than to tell the truth, if she lied about this, everything could go wrong so suddenly, all it would take would be a meeting that Lucas asked her to attend, an innocent collision in an elevator, Nathan coming to Lucas' office for something or another, for Nathan to unveil the truth of the situation. "I am Luke's secretary. How the hell did you figure that one out?" She asked, she was more than curious to know how this all linked together.

Nathan laughed. He couldn't help it. The whole situation was just hilarious. The more he thought about Luke's quests to find out who Haley was, the harder he laughed. His brother was going to kick himself when he realised that Haley was Coffee Shop Girl, Haley, his secretary of all people. She had been right under his nose all along. He watched Haley's impatience with him grow and so did his best to calm down again. "Sorry Hales." He continued chuckling to himself. "God this is some funny shit. I'm the 'friend'. Luke didn't want to tell you that I owned this place as he didn't think you'd take it if you know that it was mine, so he told you that his 'friend', instead of me, owned it. And then he all but ordered me not to use the place while he was waiting to tell you about it, hence the need for the hotel rooms." He explained.

Haley's eyes darted from left to right, trying to take in this new piece of information, trying to let it sink in. She found herself almost gasping for air. How the fuck could this have happened? Now she had to add fucking landlord to the already excruciatingly long list of things that Nathan was to her and all the other people caught up in their crap. God, if Luke ever found out, he could tell Tom everything and then this would all get completely out of hand, she knew Tom, she knew he wouldn't react well at all to finding out about this. She felt like all her control over this carefully planned relationship with Nathan was slipping through her fingers, so she had to rein some of it back in. "You can't tell Luke about us Nathan." She pleaded with him, desperate for him to understand that that there just wasn't a possibility for Lucas to find out, not while she still hadn't ended things with Tom. She would have to end things with Tom carefully, so that he would never know that she had been having an affair with Nathan, and that was going to take some time.

Nathan looked at Haley, rather confused at her request, but he knew that he couldn't deny her anything. "Okay, but why not?" He asked.

Haley looked away from him and bit down on her lip. There were a thousand and one reasons as to why she didn't want Lucas to know about her and Nathan, but there was no way that she could tell Nathan even half of them, in fact most of them. She sighed. "I'm just worried about what people will think when they find out about this at the office."

Nathan shrugged his shoulders, to him it didn't really matter who did or didn't know about them, in fact, it would be fun to play Lucas a little bit more, wind him up rather like how he had been doing with him, only now Nathan had the upper hand. "Okay I won't tell Luke about us. Well, at least we don't have to use hotel rooms anymore." Nathan chuckled.

Haley instantly snapped her eyes back to Nathan. Was he suggesting that they continue this? Here? Now? Could she do that now that she knew what was at stake, could she risk Tom finding out about them and spinning his evil ways, making her and Nathan's life hell? Was it safe to? "Nathan this can't continue. We can't continue like this." She spoke quietly, not believing the words that were coming out of her mouth. She needed time to get thing sorted with Tom first, she couldn't take the chance that he could discover what had been going on behind his back. It was the sensible and most rational thing to do given the circumstances.

Nathan stopped moving completely when he heard her words; he felt like he had been carved in stone, a sudden coldness sweeping through his body, he was sure that he wasn't even breathing either. He was completely dumbfounded. What the hell did she just say? She couldn't be ending this? He couldn't, no; he wouldn't let her, not when he was supposed to be hers for good tonight, not when she was supposed to become his. "Why the fuck can't we continue?" He asked, practically shouting again, the pain of her words seeping through into his voice.

Haley sighed again. "Because Nathan, you own the company I work for, people will question everything about me being there." _Because Tom is one of your departmental heads and he will go ape shit if he ever finds out about us ... _She wished that he would just accept what she needed to do, she was trying to protect him as much as herself.

"I'll fire anyone who questions anything about you or about us." He battered than reasoning away quickly, it was the most ridiculous reason he had ever heard and it was making him angry that she thought that it was a legitimate rationale for ending things.

Haley rolled her eyes at him. "So what happens if you end up firing everyone except for me and you?" She questioned.

"Then I'll deal with it. Haley that isn't a reason for us not to be together, it's pathetic. I don't get you at all. What happened to the woman who told me that she wanted to be with me properly yesterday in the coffee shop? So what... you live in my apartment, I own the company you happen to work for. So fucking what. How does that change anything?" He was so confused, she had done a complete one eighty since this morning, it just didn't make any sense whatsoever, so he was going to question her until he got a fucking satisfactory and logical answer, because he knew that there wasn't one. She belonged with him and he belonged with her. Period.

Haley was screaming all her reasoning on the inside. She wanted him to understand the predicament she now found herself in. She wanted to tell him about Tom but she didn't have the courage to do so. She knew that she was being cowardly. She looked into Nathan's eyes and she knew that she needed to sort Tom out first and she couldn't risk being found out, tonight had been too close a call. It would only be temporary, just until she managed to break up with Tom and get that side of her life sorted. "I didn't manage to end things with my boyfriend tonight." She admitted.

Nathan's face fell. He didn't know why because he had come to that very conclusion when he hadn't received the phone call he had been expecting from her earlier that night, but he still didn't like hearing her say it. "So what?" He questioned her again, unsure how this fact suddenly affected their relationship because it didn't.

"So I think it's probably best if we don't see each other until I've managed to end things with him first." Haley said, hating the words that she was speaking but she knew that they had to be said.

Nathan rubbed his forehead with his hand. She couldn't be doing this, he couldn't be hearing this. So what... she hadn't told her boyfriend yet, so he'd have to wait a little longer to be with her properly, so the fuck what? What the fuck had changed? Absolutely fucking nothing. That's what. He couldn't do it. He needed her. "How long?" He heard himself asking. Why the fuck was he asking her that? He wasn't going to do this. What if he agreed to this and she changed her mind about wanting to be with him in the meantime... he couldn't risk that happening. He couldn't live without her, he wasn't himself when he wasn't with her.

Haley sighed. "I don't know two weeks, a month maybe." She said.

"Well fuck that Hales." Nathan shouted. Was she out of her fucking mind? He just didn't understand why she wanted this, why couldn't they continue? "What happened Haley, did you finally grow a fucking conscience or something?" He sneered at her, the anger at the thought of not being with her for a whole fucking month fuelling his every thought. He had tried to be apart from her before, and he couldn't do it again, he was miserable without her. She was his everything.

Before Haley knew what she was doing, she had taken three long strides towards him and slapped him as hard as she could on the cheek. "Fuck you for that Nathan." She said in a deadly voice before turning away from him and putting some much needed distance between them both.

He wouldn't apologise for that. Not when she was insisting on them taking a fucking break from each other, not when she could so very easily change her mind about everything, not when she held all the fucking cards. He just needed to make her see that what she was suggesting wasn't an option, how she could even think about being apart from him was actually annoying him; he couldn't even fathom not being able to talk to her, or see her, or kiss her for more than a day, let alone a fucking month. "So you're asking me to wait?" He clarified.

Haley nodded her head. She still wasn't facing him. "Just give me one month." A month was all she needed to ensure that things with Tom were over and done with. She had to be much more careful now that she knew he worked for Nathan, she had to ensure that he knew that their relationship had been over a long time ago, she also had to make sure that he never found out about her and Nathan seeing each other behind his back. She had to come up with an extremely calculated plan and be extremely careful.

Nathan shook his head, desperately clawing for something to hold on to, willing to result to blackmail if he needed to as there was no fucking way he was going to be able to survive without her for that long and he was also scared shitless that she was going to change her mind in that time. It was that very thought that was driving his anger, she was his. She had promised herself to him and he couldn't deal with anyone else having any sort of claim on her. "I'm tired of fucking waiting Haley. Why the fuck should I wait any longer for you than I already have been doing?" He roared.

Haley spun around to face him. "Well your whore is sleeping in the next fucking room. What's stopping you from waiting now?" She screamed back at him.

Nathan rolled his eyes at her. "How many fucking times do I need to say this shit? She is my friend from college. She works in property and is showing Luke and I some investment opportunities on Monday. Since you're Luke's secretary, you will probably remember speaking to her assistant Lucy who would have booked this all with you sometime last week I think. There is nothing, and never has been anything, going on between Carly and I." He growled at her in a menacing way.

She finally believed him. She remembered booking the damn appointment in the calendar on Wednesday and speaking to Lucy. She was relieved to say the least. But somehow, all of this seemed to be easier on her if she could be mad at Nathan for something, if she could put some of the blame at least on him. But she had nothing to blame him for now. She looked at him, really looked at him, delving deep into his stunning blue eyes. He really was so gorgeous and she couldn't help the small smile that appeared ever so faintly on her lips. But she still needed to do this. It was a month. That was all. She turned around to her side and rested her hands on the counter in the middle of the kitchen, and closed her eyes. "I just need one month Nathan." She said quietly.

Nathan had seen the flicker of realisation in her eyes when she remembered speaking to Lucy and booking the appointment, which he was relieved about, and it seemed that she finally believed that he and Carly weren't together. He also saw the faint smile that ghosted on her face, how could he not have noticed it? He had memorized every single expression that she had. And he knew that right in that moment, she was stuttering on her decision, she was stalling, and he knew that the walls she had built up for this decision that she had made for them both were beginning to crumble down, all they needed was a little push, a gentle persuasion of sorts. And who was he to deny her or himself of that, especially when she looked so fucking hot dressed in that sexy underwear. He walked the three strides that were needed to close the distance between them and then found that he was standing directly behind her.

Haley could feel him behind her, she had heard his steps, and now he was so close she could feel his breath tickle her back. She shivered involuntarily at the sensation. She found her own breathing increasing in pace as she was left anticipating what he was going to do next. _One month_. She repeated to herself. She could deal with a month. She could continue without him for one measly month. Then she would be his completely and there would be nothing or no one standing in their way.

Nathan watched her back shiver and smirked to himself. He loved that he had that affect on her; he hadn't even touched her yet and she was already shivering. It was just another thing that reminded him of how much he wanted her, and how much she wanted him. There was no way that she could be without him for a month, she felt exactly the same way that he did, he was sure of it. He longed to rip that bra right off her but he knew that he was going to have to be patient about this; he was going to have to get her so worked up that she was literally dying with anticipation and need. Need that only he could fill. He was going to destroy that fucking wall that she had built up brick by brick because he needed her to understand that she couldn't live without him, be it for one month, one week, one day, one hour or one minute, just like how he knew that he couldn't live without her. It was the difference between what she thought she needed to do, which was absolute bullshit, and what she knew that she couldn't do, which was live without him. And he would make her see that. He reached out his hand and traced a line right down her spine, from her neck all the way over the back of her bra strap, down to the waistband of her panties. Her back arched in response to his touch and Nathan smirked again to himself. Brick number one had been removed.

Haley closed her eyes the second she felt Nathan's hand touch the base of her neck. What the hell was he doing? She then felt his fingers move so slowly down her spine, all the way down her back, and she couldn't help the way that her back arched in response to his touch but she still cursed herself for it. Her breathing increased in pace yet again, and she was sure that he had heard the change in its rhythm too. Why did he have this hold over her? Why did he make her feel this way from just the simplest of touches? _One month. _She repeated to herself again.

Nathan brought his other hand up to join the one that had rested on the waistband of her panties on her lower back and dragged his fingers along the waistband around to her hips, where he started to move them around in slow, deliberate circles, loving the feel of his hands on her smooth skin. He then lowered his mouth to the top of her back, breathing in her incredible smell, which made him even more determined to do this, to make her see what he meant to her, for he knew that he couldn't live without that smell for a month, it would kill him being apart from her. He kissed her ever so lightly on her shoulder blade, before hovering his mouth over her skin, tracing his nose along it until the need to kiss her became too much for him and so he lowered his mouth back down to her skin and kissed her again. "You think that you can live without me, without this, for a month?" He muttered against her back as he placed another kiss on the centre of her spine.

Haley felt his kisses landing randomly on her back, and she also felt his hands move gradually up her sides until he hit the underside of her breasts, and started to bring them closer to the centre of her chest, tracing the underwire of the bra that she was wearing, the bra that she was wearing for him. Could she live without him for a month? Of course she could. She opened her mouth to answer him just as his hands started to trace around the top of her breasts, the action causing the palms of his hands to graze over her nipples, causing them both to harden instantly. His mouth was still moving along her back and she arched her back again, pushing her breasts out towards his hands, wanting more friction and jutting her back out towards his mouth, craving more kisses from him. "Yes." She answered but winced when she heard her voice. She had sounded so sure in her head, but the voice with which she had just spoken had sounded so hesitant and unconvinced.

Nathan smiled against her skin when he heard the tone of her voice; he was enjoying the careful destruction of her barriers towards him. He started to increase the pressure of his hands which were now tracing the outline of her cleavage and then started to bring them in towards her already hardened nipples which he had felt when he had grazed them with the palms of his hands. He started to move over the cups of the bra that she was wearing and traced over the lace, before running his fingers around her nipples, hearing a quiet moan of pleasure escape from Haley's mouth. He continued to move his mouth randomly over her back, kissing her haphazardly, adding a little more force with each kiss he placed on her. God he loved the taste of her.

Haley gripped the counter which her hands were placed on as hard as she could, trying desperately to control the desire that was building from deep inside of her. She wanted nothing more than for him to rip that underwear of her, just like he had said that he would, but once she thought about that, she remembered why she had asked for some time from Nathan, and realised that she needed to stop this before it got out of hand. Just as she was about to protest, she felt his hands snake up her shoulder to the straps of the bra, and slowly pull them across her shoulders and down her arms. Her breath caught in her throat as she waited with anticipation, wondering what he was going to do next. His touch was still sending shivers right down to the core of her body, and her heart rate was picking up in pace with every second that passed.

Once the bra straps were halfway down the tops of her arms, he let them go and brought his hands back up to her shoulders, and then ran them down her chest, his fingers feather light until he got to the top curve of her breast, and then he increased the pressure on her skin as he got closer to the edge of her bra, and once he reached it, he peeled it away from her breasts and pulled it further down her body, freeing her incredible breasts from their constraints. He then moved both of his hands up over her breasts and then traced his fingers around in a circle at the edge of her nipples, hearing her breathing crank up another notch, as his mouth wandered higher on her back, heading towards her neck, knowing how much she enjoying him kissing her there. He then took each of her nipples simultaneously between his thumb and forefinger and started to roll them around, tugging lightly on them as he did so.

"Mmmm." Haley moaned when she felt him tug a little more forcefully on her nipples. She could feel him smiling against her back as his mouth wandered even higher, heading towards her neck, and she wanted him there, she wanted to feel his mouth hot and wet on her neck, she was getting frustrated with the light kisses he continued to cover her back with. She wanted him to nip at her skin; she wanted him to.... no! She wanted him to give her some space; she wanted him to let her finish things with Tom, she wanted... his hand to continue that trail down her torso, over her belly button, underneath the waistband of her panties and down to her now damp centre.

Nathan heard her moan again as one of his hands left her nipple and started to move in a measured pace down towards her stomach. He knew that she was expecting him to go right for her pussy, but he was no way near done with her yet. After all, she still hadn't told him that she didn't want this stupid fucking break to happen, and until she did so, he was going to continue his ministrations. His fingers traced around her belly button and then moved down to the waistband of her panties, and he tucked his fingers inside, but instead of lowering his hand further inside her panties, he then dragged his hand around to her hips, and then removed it as he moved his hand further down to the top of her thigh, tracing the elastic of her panties down to where her legs met in the middle. He felt her weight shift as she opened up her legs, leaving just enough room for his hand to slip in between them, but then he moved his hand back up the elastic. He heard her groan in frustration at the departure of his hands from where she wanted him to touch her, and he continued moving them along until he found the strap to the suspenders she was wearing and traced down the smooth turquoise satin until he hit the lace of the black hold ups that she had on. He pulled her back up further so that her back was now flush against his chest, sure that she could feel his erection protruding into her back. His mouth had now reached the side of her neck, and he placed another feather light kiss at the base of her neck, before he parted his lips slightly and allowed his tongue to lick a path up towards her ear, leaving a hot, wet kiss just underneath her earlobe as one of his hands traced idle patterns along and over the lace of the holdups she had on, and the other continued to tug and pull at her nipple. He then moved his mouth up to her ear and kissed her earlobe. "Are you sure you can deal with being without this for a whole month Haley? You didn't sound too convinced before." He whispered hotly in her ear.

_Damn him! _Haley moaned to herself. He knew exactly what he was doing to her, hell she knew exactly what he was doing to her, and the worst thing was, was that she wanted him to continue. But she knew that he wasn't going to give her what she wanted until she agreed to put an end to this break she had suggested... no not suggested, needed. She fought with her resolve, needing to summon some greater inner strength to fight off the feelings he was invoking from within her. But when he started sucking on that spot just on the side of her neck, she moaned involuntarily again. She took a deep breath, trying to clear the fog that had collected in her mind, making her question why she needed a month away from him, making her start to doubt whether she could really do it, whether she could survive without his touch, without his kisses. She closed her eyes, and tried to clear her mind as she took a deep breath. Nathan's hand now started to move from the lace of her hold up, up her inner thigh, tickling her skin. "I'm sure." She said croakily as her hands clenched on the counter top, trying to vent some of her frustrations at what he was doing to her on it. But it wasn't working. In fact his touch was just making her wetter and wetter, and she could feel some of her juices start to seep through her panties.

Nathan continued trailing his hand lightly over her inner thigh as he leaned back a little to leave a gap just big enough for his hand to move from her nipple and around to the bra strap on her back. He continued sucking on her skin at the side of her neck, biting down with his teeth every once in a while which caused Haley to moan and suck in her breath. He found the bra clasp and undid it with one hand effortlessly, pulling the straps off her body and allowing the bra to fall to the ground and then moved his hand back towards her breast as the other continued moving further up her leg. She was being stubborn but he knew that she was so close to breaking, he could hear the strain in her breathing; he could feel it in the way that she had started to move her back ever so slightly against his erection which had grown even harder with all his teasing. As much as he felt like he was torturing her, he was also torturing himself. But he was going to remain strong. He wasn't going to give her what she wanted until he got what he needed from her.

Haley felt his whole hand start to massage her right breast, his thumb rolling over her nipple every now and then, and she closed her eyes once more, only that didn't help anything. She tried to concentrate on something else but she couldn't find anything that warranted her attention, all she seemed to be able to focus on was Nathan's hand on her breast, his other hand running dangerously closer to the edge of her panties and his mouth working her neck like only he could. She could feel his rock hard cock poking in her lower back, and she had started to shift her back slightly against it. She wanted him...

Nathan moved his hand over to her left breast and gave it the same treatment that he had given the right, only he could now feel her rapidly beating heart underneath his touch, and he smiled against her neck. She moaned when he pinched her nipple and bit down on her neck at the same time, and he knew that she was close to cracking. His hand had been at the waistband of her panties for a while and he knew what he needed to do to finally get her to succumb to what he wanted from her. He continued to lick and suck on her neck, as well as play with her nipple and he moved his hand down in between her legs slightly, moving his hand onto the satin of her panties and pressing his finger down into the material as he lowered it down even further in between her folds, feeling the wetness that had gathered there. He moaned against her neck and moved his mouth to her ear. "If you are so sure that you can live without this for a month, then why are you panties so wet Hales?" He said huskily to her as he continued moving his finger slowly up and down over the material, feeling her panties get even more damp as he did so.

"God Nathan." Haley groaned. Her head was spinning again, she wanted him so badly, and she could barely remember why she was trying to fight this. She felt his finger move up and down at such a torturous pace and it felt so fucking good. She felt his finger ghost over her clit and shuddered at his touch, she felt him increase the pressure of his finger when he got to her entrance, being sure to run over it in a circle a couple of times before he moved back up towards her clit. He was slowly killing her, that was what it felt like, the desire she felt rush through her, the need and yearning for him was consuming every inch of her being. "Nathan..." She moaned again when she felt his finger run in calculated circles around her clit, making her literally squirm, needing him to touch her properly. "Nathan please." She begged. She didn't know how this had happened, how she had suddenly become so needy and so yielding to him. But she had.

Nathan almost chuckled to himself, but he was just as worked up as she was so he didn't. He needed his fingers to be inside of her, he wanted to taste her, he wanted to slam his cock into her pussy so fucking hard that she wouldn't even remember what the word 'break' even meant once he was done with her. He bit down on her earlobe. "What do you want Haley?" He said is a voice laced with control and dominance.

Haley parted her lips, her breathing becoming increasingly laboured. He asked her want she wanted. The answer was simple. She wanted him. She tried to speak, but his hand had just gripped the elastic of her panties and he was pushing it aside, opening herself up to him. Yes... this was exactly what she wanted. She felt his middle finger directly at her entrance, but he wasn't moving it. He was playing with her.

Nathan took a sharp intake of breath, trying desperately to control himself. He was so close to where he needed to be, but she hadn't said the words yet. If he moved his fingers just a fucking millimetre, then he would be inside of her, but he couldn't submit himself to her, he needed to remain in control of this, he needed to hear her say it. But she wasn't saying anything. So he cranked it up a notch. He started to move his finger slowly up her slit towards her clit, stopping just below it.

"Fuck!" Haley cried out in frustration as she felt his finger move back down in between her folds. She mentally slapped herself for showing him her weakness, but she couldn't help it, not when he was toying with her like this. His finger was now right by her entrance again, but he still wasn't moving it.

"I asked you what you wanted Haley." He growled sexily at her ear. He didn't know where this self fucking restraint was coming from but as far as he was concerned he deserved a medal for this shit. She still said nothing. _Damn her! _He knew what he needed to do. He slowly inserted just one of his fingers halfway into her soaking wet pussy, his finger gliding in with absolute ease, but he stopped and quickly drew it out of her, pleased when he got the reaction he was hoping for.

"Nathan!" She whined. She had thought that she had won when he dipped his finger inside of her, but it was just another tease. She closed her eyes again.

"I can't do it Haley; I can't live without you for a month. I know you can't either." He whispered to her.

She couldn't, he was right. But they had to. She didn't want to. She breathed in deeply.

"I know you want me." He said huskily. "I can feel how much you want me."

She did. She couldn't deny it.

"Don't do this to us." He whispered so quietly that she barely heard him.

She didn't want to.

He moved his mouth from her ear and starting to kiss her along her jaw. She was tilting her head ever so slightly towards him, allowing him to move closer and closer to her mouth. He could feel her giving in to what she wanted. Him. He knew he was so close. The wall was barely standing now.

But she had just stopped moving her head towards him. She was hesitating. She needed something from him. He felt it. He needed to be honest with her. But could he do it? He continued kissing her jaw and moved his mouth up her chin until he kissed the very corner of her mouth and then pulled away slightly, and found her deep, gorgeous brown eyes staring right at him. He blinked. Could he really show her his vulnerability right now? If he did, then he wouldn't have an ounce of control left. Could he really live with that, could he honestly let her have that much of a hold on him after all that she had said to him tonight? Could he give her absolutely everything he had to offer? What if she abused his final offering? What if he was left with absolutely nothing after he had given her everything? He moved his mouth slowly towards her, continuing to look into her eyes until he felt her breath on his lips and he stopped moving, hovering just above her mouth. He was millimetres away from her lips. "I love you." He whispered.

**AN – I am so sorry about that ending..! I feel like an absolute bitch for leaving it there... I bet you are all screaming at the screen now huh (you get my comment to you now at the top Lynn?!)?! I know I was, and my fingers were so tempted to carry on... I couldn't bear leaving Nathan like that!**

**But the next chapter is going to be good so I hope you forgive me and I think I will be working on it before Kiss the Rain, because well, I already have it planned out! Let me know what you thought by dropping me a review, and Happy Easter to you all – hope you all got lots of yummy chocolate! x**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN – How good am I updating so quickly?! I honestly didn't think I would have this next chapter ready until at least my birthday (which is a week today... oh my gosh!), but I managed to scrounge some free hours and spent it writing this chapter! **

**Thank you all so much for the reviews of the last chapter, you guys are all so amazing! I have the best reviewers in the world *smiles*.**

**Again just a few words to those of you who reviewed but don't have a fanfiction account – Daize – Sorry I kept you waiting for the last chapter but I managed to update this one quickly! And I'm glad that the Oh My God in the previous review was in a good way! Hope you had a lovely Easter too. Keeta – I'm glad you like Nathan and Haley in this story. Your words were so lovely so thank you! I'm also pleased that you liked the ending of the last chapter. Jess – Sorry about the way the last chapter ended! Lol, you are so sweet with your comments about making this a film and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Alright. There is still so much left to happen in this fic – and I think you guys know what I'm like by now... haven't I managed to drag this Friday night over what is it, three chapters now (yep that's right, three chapters and just as othfangirl said in her review, they didn't even leave the kitchen in the last chapter!!)?! This is going to be a long story. It's already way over 100,000 words in just 11 chapters... and I still got plenty more in me. **

**So I hope you all enjoy the ride. I still love writing this fic so much (I get so excited when I think of a new idea and I think my fiancé is a little sick of me talking about it if I'm honest!) and I really appreciate you all for letting my imagination run wild with my version of Nathan and Haley and all the mess they create for themselves, each other, and anyone else who is even slightly involved in their lives.**

**I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**Chapter Twelve**

Silence.

Even though the stillness lingered in the air between them, it was only quiet in the fact that neither of them were speaking. But Nathan could hear everything; every single sound seemed to be exaggerated to him in those few moments where he was waiting, waiting for some kind of answer from her, some kind of response. He could hear the deafening sound of his heart beating manically in his chest, the sharp intakes of oxygen that he was now taking in a vain attempt to calm his heart rate down, which wasn't working at by any means, so it just continued to beat to a wild rhythm, and if anything the pounding beats of his heart were speeding up instead of slowing down with each anxious second that passed. Then there was the sound of the dripping tap in the downstairs bathroom which he really needed to fix because the sound of it was annoying the shit out of him right now, he could also hear the faint hum of the late New York traffic from the main road which he never realised that he could hear from his apartment, and there were also the sounds of people hustling around outside, enjoying themselves, sounding completely carefree, and he wished that he was one of them, but instead he found himself waiting.

But in spite of all these sounds which were milling around, it was the ticking of the clock on the kitchen wall which sounded the loudest to his ears, it seemed to be taunting him, teasing him with every single fucking noise it made, the seconds ticking by, time moving on, the world continuing to spin on its axis, and yet still she said absolutely nothing to him, and he found that was still waiting.

She should have said something by now. Usually when you told people that you loved them, they said it back, for that was the way this whole love thing worked right? There should have been absolutely no hesitation; there was no need for this pointless nothingness, not if she felt the same way about him. But she continued to stare right into his eyes, and the silence continued to hang thickly in the air.

He could feel her breath on his lips, he was still hovering just above her mouth, he hadn't shifted positions since he had muttered those three words to her, one of his hands was still on her breast and the other lingered just above her entrance. He could taste the alcohol on her too. He had known that she had been drinking, the shattered shot glass that she had thrown his way earlier on in the evening had attested to that fact, and then there was his ten thousand dollar bottle of scotch which he had been saving for God knows how long that was sitting half empty on the countertop beside them, which also would suffice to explain how intoxicated she had seemed.

But he couldn't bring himself to care about that at the moment, yes he probably shouldn't have tried to seduce her into changing her mind about that stupid fucking break that she had suggested they take while she was drunk, but he couldn't help himself, what she had suggested had hurt him, he didn't even want to think about not being with her, he was desperate for her and he would stoop to the lowest of the lows if he needed to, he would do anything to stop this absurd idea from continuing. And he was completely infuriated at the fact that she allowed herself to be thinking about such important decisions, decisions which impacted him just as much as they did her, decisions which had such huge implications on both their lives, just after she had drunk half a bottle of scotch and without even thinking to consult him on the matter. So as far as he was concerned, his actions were completely justified. She had started this shit. And that was all that this fucked up situation that she had created was, absolute fucking bullshit, bullshit that he wasn't going to allow to happen.

But however much he wasn't regretting his earlier seduction of her, he did find that he was getting anxious and frustrated with her lack of saying or doing something back to him. Anything would be better than this tangible silence. He honestly wouldn't have cared if she slapped him around the face again or thrown even more wooden spoons, spatulas and fish slices at him if that was what she wanted, at least that way he would know that she was pissed at him. But at the moment, he knew absolutely nothing about how she was feeling. He felt lost, desolate and confused, was this break that she insisted on still going to happen? Or had he succeeded in putting an end to the ludicrous idea? He searched her eyes for some kind of answer, but they were completely void of any emotion. He couldn't work out what she was thinking and it was killing him, he needed to know what was going on in that mind of hers, he needed her to open up to him.

All thoughts of seduction had now been completely eradicated from his mind and all he could feel was the desperation of needing her to confirm what he meant to her rush through him furiously.

The clock continued to tick on, and he felt like ripping it from the wall and smashing it up into tiny pieces so no further sound could be made from the damn thing, it was just mocking him now and his frustration was growing with each fucking noise the damn clock was making. He needed her to say those three words back to him. He longed to hear those words fall from her lips; he needed that reassurance from her, he needed to know that even after everything that had happened, after everything that had been said tonight, that he had some claim on her still; he needed to know that he occupied a part of her heart, just like how she had his completely.

He wanted her to tell him honestly how she felt about their relationship; he had thought that she felt the same way about him as he did her, but now he wasn't so sure, he needed the absolution, the fulfilment that only those three words could bring him. He closed his eyes for the briefest of moments and all too many thoughts rushed into his mind at once, the clearest of all was the fact that he shouldn't have done it. He shouldn't have opened up to her like that. He had handed her his heart and from the lack of reply from her, it was clear to him that she didn't want it; she didn't feel what he felt for her, she didn't love him. The disappointment washed over him like a tidal wave, and every inch of him was now consumed with regret.

_He loves me? _Haley thought to herself, his words still not sinking in at all, and as amazing as they were to hear, they just didn't seem to want to register in her brain. Maybe it was out of the guilt she felt for lying to Nathan, for lying to Tom, for lying to herself even and she had somehow reasoned with herself that she didn't feel that she was worthy of his love. Maybe it was just because she was drunk, or maybe it was because she had been to hell and back again tonight, but either way, she just couldn't accept the words that had just come out of his mouth. She hadn't shifted her gaze from Nathan's for what felt like hours, even thought it could have only been a couple of minutes that had passed at the most. She couldn't believe what he had just said to her, she couldn't believe that he had said that to her tonight of all nights. Tonight, after she had been on a rollercoaster of emotions, she felt like she had been through it all, and right now she just felt numb, she didn't think her body could cope with anymore of anything, be it emotions or thoughts. She just felt tired.

She was half pleased that his hands had stopped the slow, deliberate torture of her body and half pissed at that too, a part of her longing for him to finish what he had started. But she couldn't think straight as it was and her mind was so full of fog that if his seduction had continued then she would have just been like putty in his hands, succumbing to his every will, unable to stop him from getting what he wanted from her. She knew that she would have been unable to keep from telling him that the break she needed to get rid of Tom once and for all was now off, she had been that close to cracking under the pleasure he had been giving her, the promise of so much more, if she could only have told him what he wanted to hear, had been right there at her fingertips, ready for the taking. But she had hesitated when she felt his kisses move closer to her mouth, she was debating with herself, she knew that taking the break from their relationship was the right thing to do but his fingers, his mouth was just so tempting, he was too talented, she just needed him, and she had been mere seconds away from telling him that the break wasn't needed, when he had muttered those three words to her. And she had frozen up completely and hadn't thawed from that state at all.

She knew how she felt about him, she had admitted that she all but loved him earlier on to herself, and if she hadn't felt so strongly about him then she wouldn't have become so jealous when she saw him with that woman at the engagement party earlier, the very woman who was now sleeping in the downstairs bedroom of his apartment. _His apartment._ It felt weird calling this place that she had called home for the past couple of months his. But apparentlyit was and that was going to be something that she was going to have to get used to.

She continued looking into his eyes and saw the complete mix of emotions which were running through him. She desperately wanted to say those words back to him, she hated making him feel like this, but she was confused. Was she worthy of his love? Did she deserve to have this amazing man tell her such wonderful things, especially when theoretically she was still engaged to another man, a man who was far more involved in this mess than she had ever thought possible?

She groaned internally to herself. Why had he said that to her now, after she had just realised how tangled their lives were? It was all one big, fat mess that desperately needed time and space so that she could get her head around it all. There were too many people involved in all this shit, she had only just realised, and even the slightest slip up could leave them both so exposed. She couldn't believe that they had managed to keep this hidden for so long, they had been out in public practically every day at Starbucks, which was only a couple of minutes away from both office buildings, they could have been caught so easily. They had been reckless, she had been careless and that scared her because she had previously thought that this relationship with Nathan had been thought through so carefully, that no one would ever find out about it, it would have been impossible for anyone to uncover what had been going on due to the planning that she had put into it, making sure that they went to restaurants and bars that she would never usually venture into, ones that Tom would never go to so that he would never find out about their relationship. But now she knew how close Tom and Nathan were, and she realised just how dangerous this whole situation was.

But as she continued to stare into his gorgeous blue eyes, she couldn't help the feelings that were coursing through her body. He was quite honestly the most amazing man she had ever met. And it shouldn't matter that he was her boss, it shouldn't matter if he owned the apartment she lived in. And it didn't. She knew that it didn't. But it did matter that Tom existed, it mattered that Tom worked for Nathan, it mattered that Tom could be a protective, manipulating, jealous shit when he wanted to be. She was just trying to protect Nathan and herself from Tom.

But he hadn't found out about them yet, so maybe another few weeks of sneaking around wouldn't be a problem? They could always use the apartment now anyway, just like Nathan had suggested which would make things a hell of a lot easier… but then again maybe she was just tempting fate and taking more than she should from Nathan, he deserved to have her completely, she had promised herself to him, and all she needed was just one month to get all of this shit sorted once and for all and then she would be his. God she didn't know what the hell to do.

It had been too long now. It was obvious that she wasn't going to say it back to him. Her deep brown eyes were still telling him absolutely nothing. He started to panic internally, he wasn't sure what the hell you were supposed to do when you said that you loved someone and the other person didn't say it back. Did that instantly mean that the relationship was over? It felt like it. He really had given her everything he had, he had never felt more vulnerable in his life, and it seemed that she was going to take that vulnerability and leave him with absolutely nothing, just like he had feared. He had never felt so defeated, he was Nathan Scott, and this kind of thing just didn't happen to him, at least not until now. His heart had broken, he was broken and he just didn't know what the fuck to do about it. He couldn't bring himself to not look at her, he was still waiting, he was waiting for that flicker of enlightenment from her still, even though he thought it was much too late for it, he was still holding on to the hope that the realisation of what he knew, what he felt, would hit her. He felt like someone had literally ripped him in two, but he knew that the pain would be much worse if he had to let go of her, if he wasn't close to her, so he continued to stay behind her, he didn't move an inch.

Haley suddenly pulled herself out of her frozen state and released her hands from the countertop that she had been leaning against, so she was now standing completely flush against Nathan's back, her mouth was still so close to his and she only broke her gaze with him when she saw something twinkle on the wall behind him, realising that it was the bracelet that he had given her, the diamonds on it were reflecting off the light which was filtering in from the window onto the wall of the kitchen. It was the bracelet that she wore every single day, the bracelet which meant more to her than her engagement ring ever did or could, because it was from him. It was the bracelet that she loved, the one had been given to her by this wonderful man, and she suddenly felt something rush through her whole body so strongly. She connected her gaze back to his, and saw the hurt and the pain so clearly in his eyes, and she hated it. She hated that her inner battle with herself over what was a fucked up relationship with Tom was making him feel like that. None of that mattered; all that mattered was what she felt for him, right now in this very moment. She did love him. She knew she did. And he had to know that too, she couldn't stop herself from saying it back. "Nathan I love you too." She whispered as she stared deeply into his eyes.

He had been looking into her eyes, still trying to search for a clue about what she was thinking about the whole situation and noticed that something had changed just before she had whispered those words to him. Her eyes had come back to life, instead of nothingness, he saw the desire, passion, fire and longing that her eyes usually held for him and he held completely still. The ticking of the clock had stopped; he could no longer hear his heart, his breathing, the dripping tap, the sound of the traffic from the main road or the people out on the streets below them, everything had been completely drowned out. He was waiting for what he thought was coming, he didn't want to get his hopes up, but he couldn't help it, the change in the atmosphere was almost palpable, he could feel it. And then he heard her whisper the very words that it had felt like he had been waiting his whole damn life to hear. She loved him back.

And all it took were those five words that she had whispered to him to completely mend his heart and himself back together. Nothing else mattered; nothing could ever matter to him more than Haley for the rest of time now because they were in love with each other. Breaks apart from each other were no longer needed; all they needed was each other. He had finally succeeded in knocking that God forsaken wall she had put up right down, but he didn't care about the success and victory which should have been running through his body at that fact, because he didn't feel it. All he felt was love, desire, passion, need and longing, and it was all for her, no one else had ever meant so much to him. Her brown eyes were completely drawing him in, he was getting completely lost in her, and he smiled. He was happy. And when he averted his eyes from her gaze for a second and glanced down at her lips, he saw that she was smiling at him too. She was happy. And all of a sudden, the possessiveness at having her bound to him in such an emotional way rushed right through him, engulfing all of his senses. He had to have her… now.

Haley continued to stare intently into Nathan's gorgeous blue eyes and as soon as the words had left her lips, she saw the change in his eyes. They were no longer clouded with despair, they were now on fire, she could feel the desire pouring through him, his eyes turned an impossibly dark shade of blue and before she really had a chance to process any of this, she felt his lips connect forcefully with hers. She moaned into his mouth when she felt his lips move hungrily over hers and she hastily moved her mouth in time with his movements. She felt his tongue sneak through his lips and run seductively over her top lip and she reacted by opening her mouth immediately, unable to help the second moan escape from her when she felt his tongue begin to tangle with her own. She leaned back, pushing herself further against his chest, trying to get even closer to him though it was impossible. This was exactly what she wanted, this was what she had wanted him to do earlier, he was finally finishing what he had started. The need and craving for him was all consuming, she couldn't remember what they had been fighting about, it didn't matter what they had been fighting about. Nothing else mattered, all that mattered in that moment was the fact that they loved each other, and the fact that she needed him... now.

Nathan moved his hand so that he covered as much of her breast as possible and then he proceeded to squeeze it roughly, moving his thumb over her still hardened nipple, causing another moan to escape from her lips and he relished the fact that he was making her moan like that. He couldn't describe the feelings that were running through him. The only thought that continued to run through his mind was the fact that Haley loved him. She was his. Every single inch of her belonged to him. He moved his hand that had been lingering outside of her entrance and began to run it along her thigh, as his mouth continued to devour her. He felt her hand reach up and wrap around his neck, pushing his mouth down further onto hers and he kissed her harder. She was arching her back into his chest and he desperately wanted to remove the shirt that he was still wearing, he was desperate for some skin on skin contact with her gorgeous back, but he couldn't bring himself to remove his hands from her body yet, so reluctantly, the shirt remained on him.

Haley was literally throbbing for him. She was so desperate for his fingers to be inside of her, but Nathan had other ideas for the moment obviously. She wiggled against him as his fingers continued to dance over her thighs, but they didn't move to where she wanted them the most. She needed to concentrate on something else, she needed to occupy her thoughts with something other than the insatiable need she had for him and so she moved her hands into his hair, and tugged on it roughly, causing Nathan to groan into her mouth and grind his erection into her lower back. Fuck he was hard… and ready. God, and now all she could think about was his fucking fantastic cock and how much she wanted it to be inside of her. Fuck, she needed something of his inside of her.

Nathan couldn't get enough of the hold ups and the suspender panties that she was wearing. It felt so fucking sexy, knowing that she was wearing all of that for him, they looked even better on her than he could ever have imagined in his wildest fantasies. He continued to trace mindless patterns just above the lace of the hold ups she still had on, he ran his fingers up the suspender strap until he reached the edge of her panties and then he traced his way back down until he hit the hold ups again, he was savouring the feel of it, for he knew that once he had ripped the panties off her body that they would be ruined and she wouldn't be able to wear them again. But he could always buy another set for her. Images of Haley in all sorts of underwear was now running through his mind, making his cock twitch, and so to relieve some of the tension that was building, he continued to grind into her lower back, desperate for some kind of friction.

It was fucking torture, that's all that this could be described as. His mouth was moving so forcefully over hers, his hand was literally pinching her nipples so hard that she wanted to scream, his rock hard cock was grinding into her back, reminding her of just how ready he was for her, and then there was his hand, which was moving so delicately along his leg, tickling her almost. All his different touches caused a complete tangle of emotions to well up inside of her. And all she was left with was a fucking soaking wet pussy. A pussy that was craving some fucking attention.

Nathan didn't know how the hell he was managing to hold off for so long, but he was enjoying himself. Haley was practically squirming under his touch, and he knew that she was completely ready for him, but he was going to draw this out for as long as possible. He loved the feel of her smooth skin underneath his hand; he loved the feel of the satin of the suspender strap, the lace of the hold ups and the feel of her hardened nipple underneath his thumb. He loved the feel of his mouth on her, he had started to trace a trail of hot open mouthed kisses down her jaw towards her neck, and he felt Haley lean her head on his shoulder, giving him all the access he needed to ravage her neck, which he did. He sucked down hard on her skin, nipping, biting and licking all he could reach as he moved to the spot just underneath her ear, which he knew drove her absolutely crazy, and he continued to pinch her nipple and run his other hand dangerously close to the top of her thighs.

Haley couldn't take it anymore. If his hand moved back down her thigh one more time she was going to lose it. She felt the anticipation run through her when she felt his hand begin its slow decent up her leg and she moaned encouragingly when he got closer, closer than he had been before and she held her breath, waiting for him to move the mere inches that were needed for him to be inside of her, but then he started to move his hand back down her thigh again. She'd had enough; she couldn't deal with anymore of this teasing. She moved her free hand down her body and placed it over Nathan's which had started to move back down her thigh, and she stilled his motions as she grabbed onto his hand and placed it right over her pussy. "I want you to touch me here." Haley demanded as she let out another breathy moan when Nathan sucked down on the skin of her neck.

He didn't need to be told twice. It was so fucking sexy to hear what she wanted from him and he was powerless to deny her anything she wanted, especially when she was asking him to do that. He moved his other hand from her breast, tracing down her torso until he met her panties, and with two hands, he ripped them right off her, pulling the suspender clips from the hold ups in the process and then threw the two pieces of material onto the floor beside him. He ran his middle finger up her soaking wet folds towards her clit and circled around it once, before running his finger over it, causing Haley to groan as he did so. He then moved his finger back down her folds until he found her entrance and he easily pushed three of his fingers inside of her. "God Hales." He mumbled against her skin. He loved the feel of her around him; there was no other feeling in the world like it.

"Mmmm." Haley moaned when she felt his fingers slide into her. "Can you feel how much I want you Nathan?" She moaned again when his fingers started to move in and out of her. He curled his fingers up at the ends so that he was rubbing on her G spot with every fucking fantastic stroke, and it felt so good.

He ground his hard cock into her back again, showing her how much he wanted her. "Can you feel how much I want you Hales?" He returned the question back to her as he placed more hot kisses on her neck, his fingers continuing to move in and out of her. God she was so fucking wet and he loved it. He sped up his fingers movements, making sure that he was hitting all the right spots in the process, and ran his other hand back up her stomach and when he hit her breast; he rolled her nipple in between his thumb and index finger. He could feel her breathing start to become more erratic and so he moved his thumb towards her clit and started to rub it, speeding up his fingers in the process until she was screaming his name, and he felt her muscles clench around him, her body jerking as her orgasm hit her.

Haley bit down on her lip as she felt the orgasm begin to fade and she took some calming breaths, but she knew that nothing was going to help the wild beating of her heart. She was hungry. Hungry for him. She managed to turn around so that she was now facing him, and she saw the intense way that he was looking right at her and she felt her breath catch in her throat. She leaned up towards him and kissed him hard, showing him how much she loved him. Because she did, and she was going to show him just how much he meant to her.

Nathan felt her tongue force its way into his mouth, and he groaned when he felt her hands wander down his body, over his belt and then he groaned again when he felt her hand begin to stroke him through his trousers as the other hand tried desperately to unclip his belt. She nearly broke the thing, but he didn't care, he needed her and she eventually got it undone. She then unbuttoned his trousers and pushed the zipper down, roughly tugging his boxers down with the trousers, and he moaned happily when his painfully hard cock was finally free from its confines.

Haley pulled away from his lips and began to kiss her way down his neck. He was still wearing his shirt, but she didn't have time to take it off, she was that desperate for him, so she kissed him through it as she felt his cock poke her in the stomach as she moved her way down his body. She eventually got to his belly button and she ran her hands up the back of his strong legs until she reached his ass, and she gripped onto it as she lowered herself to her knees, finally coming to the destination she desired. She looked up at Nathan through her lashes and licked her lips, getting herself ready.

God she was the sexiest woman alive. He watched as her tongue crept out of her mouth and slowly traced over her lips, and all he could think about was the need to have his cock in her mouth. He watched as her hand reached out to the base of his cock and then she started to pump up and down. He mouth was slightly open and her breathing was much like his, laboured and heavy. Her mouth started to move closer to his cock and he waited in anticipation for the contact that he desired.

Haley couldn't wait any longer, she had no idea how Nathan managed to tease her like he did because one look at his fucking amazing cock and she just had to have him. She couldn't hold off like he did and she admired his willpower. But when it came to him, she had none. She lowered her head to his cock and licked the underside of it, and she felt Nathan jerk at her touch and she smiled. She loved getting him worked up like this, she loved that she got him like this. She then lowered her mouth again and closed her lips around him, and began to move up and down his length, and as she got to the tip, she used her tongue to trace a small circle at the head before moving her mouth back down again. She continued at this pace a few more times, before speeding up her actions.

"Fuck Haley." Nathan groaned as he moved his hands into her hair, clenching it between his fingers and rocking himself to the rhythm she had set. He watched as her mouth moved up and down his length and he was mesmerised by her, she knew exactly what to do to drive him insane, it felt so fucking good, even better now that he knew that she was his. He felt her hands squeeze his ass every now and then, but it was feeling of her mouth, her tongue on him that was driving him crazy. He felt the head of his cock hit the back of her throat, and he couldn't help the cursing fall from his lips when he felt her relax her throat and take him in even further. "Fuck! Shit." He moaned as she started to move his cock back out of her mouth using her teeth to graze along his length. "Fuck that feels good."

Haley smiled as she continued to repeat her actions, knowing that it wouldn't be long until he came undone. It took two more rounds and then she felt him clench up and release his hot liquid down her throat, chanting her name over and over as he did so. She sucked on him hard, making sure that she got all that he had to offer, swallowing it down her throat before releasing him and kissing her way back up his body.

Nathan was trying desperately to get a hold of his breathing, but it wasn't easy. He felt Haley kiss her way back up his abs, his chest, eventually reaching his neck where she licked his skin and he groaned out again. "God you're so sexy, I love you."

Haley kissed her way up his jaw and reached the corner of his mouth. "I love you too." She replied and then kissed him lightly on the lips.

He would never tire of hearing her say those words to him. He leant down as she tried to pull away from him and captured her lips with his again, forcing his tongue into her mouth, unable to wait for her to realise what he wanted. His hand snaked around her waist and down to her ass which he squeezed, eliciting a moan from her. He could already feel himself getting hard again, which should have been impossible, but when it came to her, nothing was.

Haley could feel him getting hard again against her skin and she couldn't help the smile as she pulled back from his mouth. "You ready for some more?" She asked cheekily as she gazed down to his cock and then looked back up at his eyes with a smirk.

"I'm always ready for more with you. Do you see how much you turn me on?" He asked as he ran his hand further down her ass, eventually finding her pussy and he circled her entrance, he could feel how wet she was. "It seems I do the same to you too." He smirked back at her.

"You always turn me on." Haley responded with a slight blush. That was no word of a lie. Just looking at him turned her on.

Nathan groaned as she watched the blush cover her face. "I love it when you do that." He said huskily as reached up with his free hand and ran his hand over her cheek bones. "I love everything about you."

"Me too." Haley whispered back, finding herself getting lost in his intense eyes yet again.

She was looking at him so intently, that he almost forgot to breathe. She was his everything, and now they shared this unbreakable bond, because if they loved each other, nothing could hurt them. He finally felt utterly complete. His gaze wandered from hers reluctantly but he needed to see all of her, and as he followed every single curve of her body, he appreciated it all over again, even though he had her completely mapped out in her mind. Because every curve, every mark, every freckle on her body, was his. When he returned his gaze to hers he saw the love and desire that she held for him, he felt it deep inside of him, and his cock felt it too. He needed her. "Turn around." He demanded in a low, dominant voice as he started to take his shirt off.

Haley did as he asked and turned around. She felt him move his hands up her back, over her shoulder and down her arms and she shivered involuntarily at his touch, wondering what he was going to do next. She loved it when he took charge like this, it was so sexy. Once his hands had reached her wrists, she felt his hands grasp hers and he leant her forward until they were connected with the countertop she had been leaning against earlier. She felt his hands leave her and then he touched her hips, tracing the curve of her thigh before bringing them to the inside of her leg and he pushed on her thigh, causing her to widen her stance.

Once he was satisfied with how she was standing, he then traced his hands up her legs to her ass. "You've got the sexiest ass Haley." He mumbled as his hands continued to touch her, he traced up her back and then when he got to her waist, he brought his hands back around to the top of her stomach, stepping closer to her as he did so.

Haley could feel him right up against her and she couldn't stop the moan from coming from her mouth. She could feel his hard cock, resting in between her legs and she moved herself so that she could feel it against where she wanted him the most, rubbing herself against him. His hands had moved up her body and they were now playing with her breasts and she felt the craving for him rush through her in full force. "Nathan I need you now." Haley said breathlessly.

Nathan took one hand reluctantly from her breast and grabbed onto his cock. He needed her too and he was helpless to carry on waiting. He had been waiting long enough. He positioned his cock at her entrance and in one swift movement he thrust into her, both of them moaning at the same time. "Fuck you feel so good." Nathan muttered as he withdrew from her, moving both his hands so that he could grip onto her hips as he thrust into her again, this time going deeper than he had before.

"Shit!" Haley cried out when she felt him pound into her. He was hitting all the right spots with his cock at this angle, and as he sped up his thrusts, she rocked her hips back and forth to meet him, but he still wasn't going fast enough for her. "Faster." She moaned as she felt his hands begin to wander over her body. One moved in the direction of her breasts, the other traced idle circles along her stomach.

"Fuck!" Nathan grunted when he felt Haley rock her hips back faster, causing him to increase the speed of his thrusts even more, he wanted to give her exactly what she needed and so he increased the tempo again, eliciting a moan from Haley. "You like that baby?" He asked as he continued to move in and out of her, leaning his body down so that his chest was on her back, and he moved his hands onto the countertop beside hers to give him some support and keep the bulk of his weight off her.

"Fuck yes." Was all Haley could respond with, for she knew that she wouldn't be able to form a coherent sentence in her brain, not while he was fucking her like this. Fuck this felt good. She was moaning out at each thrust, alternating between "Nathan" and "Fuck" and "Yes". She knew that she wasn't going to last much longer, his cock was pounding into her and each time it was, he was hitting that delicious G spot, causing that coil in her stomach to tighten each time he entered her again and again.

Nathan could feel his orgasm approaching fast, and so he removed one of his hands from the work surface and found her clit and started to rub it ferociously, helping Haley's to arrive sooner as he wasn't going to be able to hold his off for much longer. She started to squeeze her inner muscles with each of his thrusts and he had only just managed to keep a hold of himself, he was sure he was going to come at any second and he wanted her to be there right with him. "Come for me baby." He muttered huskily in her ear, encouraging her to let go.

That was all Haley needed to hear. She let go and felt the waves of pleasure rush through her. She leaned down further onto the countertop as she felt Nathan straighten out a bit and grab her waist with one hand, as the other continued to rub on her clit and pound into her, she was grateful for his arm being around her because she was sure that she would have crumbled to the floor with the intensity of the orgasm she had.

Nathan held onto her as tightly as he could and with two more thrusts he came undone inside of her, muttering her name as he did. His breathing was incredibly fast, he was nearly gasping for breath but he didn't care. He leaned down and kissed her back tenderly, moving his hand from her clit and tracing lines around to her back, continuing his ministrations on her delicate skin. He kissed his way right up to the top of her back and felt Haley lift herself up a little, and when he got to her neck, she turned her head towards him and kissed him on the lips softly.

"I really do love you Nathan, you know that right?" Haley said.

Nathan looked into her eyes, she spoke to him with such sincerity, it almost shocked him, but he knew exactly what she meant because he felt exactly the same way. "I do. You know that goes for me too right?" He asked her with equal emotion evident in his voice.

Haley nodded her head and then felt Nathan lean down and lift her up so that she was cradled to his body. She rested her head in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes as she breathed him in, letting herself melt into him.

Nathan walked them both up the stairs and opened the door to his bedroom. He hadn't been here for so long but the room was just as he had left it. He walked them towards the bed and lifted the covers, gently placing Haley in the bed. He walked around to the other side and climbed in beside her, smiling when she rolled over and rested her head on his shoulders, her arm placed over his torso. He felt her breathing become steadier in a matter of minutes and he knew that she was asleep. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, running a hand gently through her hair. Everything was right in the world. Haley was his, and he couldn't wait to wake up in the morning and start the beginning of the rest of their lives.

~*~

Haley awoke the next morning and was completely disorientated. She had no idea where the hell she was and her head was spinning a little. She knew that she was beside Nathan, but she didn't recognise where they were. She looked around the room as she tried to bring the hazy memories of the night before back to the forefront of her mind. She remembered being at the party Tom had organised, she remembered seeing Nathan there and connecting some of the dots as to how connected they really were, she remembered running back to the apartment and being really pissed off. She closed her eyes as she willed the rest of the memories to come back to her, she remembered being furious with him when he showed up, she threw a lot at him, and she had told him about the break, she needed some time to sort things with Tom. But then he said he loved her, and she said it back. And then they'd had some of the best sex ever. And then he carried her to his bed, which must be where she was now. And just… _Fuck. _

Haley slipped herself out of Nathan's grasp and out of the bed. She was still completely naked, so she went into her bedroom and grabbed her black silk dressing gown and slipped it on. She desperately needed some water, and so she walked down the stairs and went towards the kitchen, rubbing her forehead as she moved, trying to ease the headache she had. She almost jumped out of her skin when she walked into the kitchen and found a woman sitting at the very same countertop that she and Nathan had been fucking against a couple of hours before. She tried to remember who the woman was, when it came to her, she was 'the bitch' she had seen him with at the party, who was no longer 'the bitch' because she was just Nathan's friend.

Haley mumbled what sounded vaguely like a 'hello' to her and grabbed a glass from the cupboard, pouring herself a glass of water and gulped it down quickly, rather like she hadn't had a drink in months, when the truth was, she'd just had a few too many last night.

Carly sat at the countertop, munching on the Lucky Charms she had found in the cupboard and glancing over the paper she had been sort of reading, finding herself unable to stop the raised eyebrow she was giving the woman who had just walked into the kitchen. She had been a little worse for wear herself last night, but she remembered this woman shouting a lot at her last night, she had been properly pissed off. But from the looks of the room she was now sitting in, it was safe to say that she and Nathan had sorted out whatever was wrong. "So I take it the sex was good then?" Carly asked nonchalantly as she placed another spoonful of the cereal into her mouth.

Haley had since poured herself another glass of water and almost chocked on it. She lowered the glass from her mouth and cautiously looked at the woman in front of her. Haley was absolutely mortified; she couldn't have heard them surely? How fucking embarrassing was that? "I'm sorry what?" She questioned her.

"The sex, was it good?" Carly asked again.

"How did you know that I had sex last night?" Haley asked guardedly and she was sure that her face was now turning the most ridiculous shade of red possible.

Carly smiled and raised her eyebrows again, this girl was cute, she wasn't used to people being shy over talking about sex. "The torn in two panties on the floor next to me kind of gave it away." Carly said and laughed as the girl scowled at her.

Haley took some calming breaths and walked around to where the woman was sitting and sure enough, her panties, which were torn apart, along with her bra and all of Nathan's clothes were scattered around the general vicinity of this woman who was sitting in her kitchen. She hastily picked them up and threw them into the corner of the room so that they were out of her sight. She then walked back around to the safety of the other side of the kitchen and continued to drink her water, filling it up again when she had finished it.

"I'm Carly by the way." Carly offered, still eating her cereal as she watched the woman fill her glass again, she must be very thirsty.

"Haley."

The silence descended uncomfortably among them again.

Haley couldn't deal with this woman being in the apartment, her head was spinning and she needed to talk to Nathan. But she couldn't chuck her out because this apartment was Nathan's and he had brought her back here, so she just stood at the sink drinking her water quietly.

Carly continued to eat her cereal, eyeing Haley suspiciously. She had no idea really what was going on between her and Nathan, but a part of her hoped that this girl was the one that he had told her about, she had an attitude, that was for sure, and it was clear that she wasn't going to let Nathan just walk all over her, like so many of his previous conquests.

Nathan had since woken up and pulled on some lounge pants and walked downstairs, finding Haley having a glass of water in the kitchen, dressed in a sexy black robe that he found himself wanting to remove quickly. He walked into the room and smiled at her, and she smiled back, though not as brightly as he would have liked. "Head hurting?" He asked as he picked up the half full bottle of scotch that had remained on the table and put the offending item away in the cupboard, moving over to Haley, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. "I know a really good hangover cure." He whispered suggestively in her ear, before looking up and seeing Carly sitting at the counter. He closed his eyes briefly, remembering what he and Haley had been doing right where she was sitting just hours previously, but he managed to control himself. "Hey Carly." He threw her way, as he released his grip on Haley before he did something extremely inappropriate in front of his friend.

"Hi Nathan. Good night last night?" Carly asked with a knowing smile on her face.

"Extremely good thanks." Nathan replied as he threw another smile at Haley, but this time she didn't return it at all. He cleared his throat. "Hales, do you want anything to eat?" He asked as he opened the fridge and studied its contents, seeing that there wasn't much on offer. He looked back to the counter and saw that Carly had used all the milk in her cereal and he shook his head at how welcome Carly always seemed to make herself. "Or we could go out and grab something, seeing as there isn't really anything in the apartment for us to have for breakfast?" He asked as he closed the fridge and leant against it, crossing his arms over his chest and waited for an answer from her.

Haley's head was spinning, she had been mulling thoughts over and over in her head ever since she had got up and she had come to a conclusion finally. She couldn't have breakfast with him, not when she still wanted the time apart from him to sort things out with Tom. In fact it wasn't that she wanted the time apart, because she didn't want to be away from him just as much as he didn't want to be apart from her, but it was what was needed, things would be much better between them if this happened, she knew it. And she knew that after telling him that she loved him last night, it was going to be even harder for him to accept now than it had been for him last night but she still had to do it. She closed her eyes. "Nathan, can we talk?" She asked as she opened them again.

"Sure baby, what's on your mind?" Nathan asked, smiling as he sat down next to Carly and waited for her to continue.

Haley looked at Carly and part of her wanted to ask her to leave, but there was another part of her which thought that if she was here, then Nathan couldn't employ all the tactics he had used last night on her, and hopefully he wouldn't get too angry at her if there was someone else in the room. She took a deep breath. "It's about what I wanted from you last night." Haley started.

Nathan looked up and saw the serious expression on her face. And he knew exactly what she was talking about, and it definitely wasn't her wanting his fingers or any other part of him being inside of her. He looked into her eyes which confirmed his worst fears; she still wanted the break, after everything that had happened last night. "No." Nathan responded quickly, letting her know that what she wanted wasn't an option.

"Nathan, you can't just tell me no!" Haley replied, outraged that he was being so dismissive of this.

"I can, and I just did. So drop it Haley, it's not going to happen." Nathan snapped at her, before reaching for the paper Carly had spread out in front of her and proceeded to look at it, but he couldn't read any of it, all the words looked like blobs on the page. He could feel the resentment and anger bubbling right underneath the surface of his skin, but he managed to keep it under control, for now.

Haley took another deep breath, trying desperately to keep her emotions in check. "Nathan I need this." She pleaded with him.

"No you don't." Nathan responded simply, not looking up from the paper he was trying to read, clenching his fists by his sides.

"Yes I do, you can't just think that you can tell me what I do or don't need Nathan, only I know what I need, and I need one month. So you are just going to have to deal with it." Haley said stubbornly.

"That is not an option Haley." Nathan said in a warning tone, she was pushing him now and it wasn't going to take much more before she pushed him right over the edge. He didn't give a fuck that Carly was there, she'd seen him lose his temper more times than he cared to count, so if Haley thought that she was being clever by doing this in front of his friend, well, she had another fucking thing coming.

"It's my choice Nathan." Haley shouted at him, unable to stop the increased volume of her voice, he was being so unreasonable and he couldn't tell her what to do, she wouldn't let him, especially given how much she knew that she needed the time apart from him.

"Your choice?" Nathan roared as he banged his fists down on the table, causing both Carly and Haley to jump at the noise he made. He then jumped out of his seat and pointed his finger at her. "You think that this is your fucking choice. Does spending a month away from me affect me too?" He screamed at her.

Haley looked at his face; it was bright red with absolute rage, so much for Carly being her safety net. He was scaring her a little bit, so she didn't answer him, instead she stayed quiet.

"I asked you a fucking question Haley, now fucking answer it." He shouted again, not having the patience to deal with her silence. She was going to fucking explain this lunacy to him even if she didn't want to.

"Yes it does affect you too but…" Haley started but found that she was cut off by him interrupting her.

"So you suddenly have the authority to make decisions for me?" Nathan roared at her.

Carly chose this moment to but in, to try to calm Nathan down a little. "Nathan…" She started but wasn't allowed to continue anymore.

"Shut the fuck up Carly." Nathan tossed his words in her direction, not letting his angry stare leave Haley.

Carly rolled her eyes and continued eating her cereal. He was such a fucking drama queen.

"Well do you?" Nathan shouted at Haley.

"No, but you don't have any authority to make decisions for me either." Haley responded. If she didn't have the right to make decisions for him, then there was no way that she was going to let him start doing that for her.

"I'm not trying to make any decisions for you Haley, I just want things to continue as they were, you are the one making all the changes, not me." He spat at her.

"It's one month Nathan, nothing will change." She answered softly as she folded her arms around herself.

"How can you think that?" He scoffed at her, the resolution that he might not be able to stop her from doing this after all suddenly crept up on him and he felt sick to his stomach.

"Because it won't, I just need one month to clear everything up, things will be better between us once everything has been sorted." Haley tried to offer him some small explanation for what she was asking of him.

Nathan started to pace, he couldn't believe that the stupid fucking wall that he had managed to crush was now back up in full fucking force. She shouldn't be doing this, not after what she said last night; she couldn't do it to him. "I told you I loved you last night Haley. You told me you loved me too, but how can you love me if you want to do this shit?" He asked, trying desperately to understand.

Carly's head jerked up at this revelation. Nathan was in love? She had never heard him sound so desperate and it was killing her, but she knew that if she said anything to him now that he would crucify her, he needed to deal with this on his own at the moment, and so she sat there quietly and was still trying to fit the pieces of the most complicated puzzle she had ever encountered together. She didn't have a fucking clue what was going on.

"I do love you Nathan, you know that I do." Haley pleaded with him to at least believe that, it wouldn't matter if he didn't believe a single thing she ever said again, but he had to believe that she loved him.

"I don't fucking know anything anymore Haley. But I do know this, if you really want this break, then you can't love me because if you felt how I feel about you, you wouldn't be able to do it." Nathan said folding his arms across his chest protectively.

"Nathan I love you." Haley said with such emotion, she had to make him see that what she was doing had nothing to do with how much she loved him; she just had to get Tom out of the picture. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes and she struggled to keep them at bay.

He could hear the 'but' coming, it was on the tip of her tongue and he hated her for doing this to him. He hated that fact that she had told him that she loved him and then hours later she was effectively taking that love back, despite what she said to him, despite her claims that she did love him, that is what it felt like. She was ripping his heart apart. He began to wish that she had never told him how she felt, he wished that she had never told him that she loved him, for that euphoria he felt when he had heard those words fall from her lips would be something that he was sure he would never feel again, and it would kill him to know that he could never feel like that again, it would haunt him forever.

"I'm sorry, but I have to do this." Haley said quietly, closing her eyes.

"You should be sorry." Nathan said despairingly. He took one last look at her and in that moment, despite the love that he held for her, he truly fucking hated her.

Haley jumped when she heard the front door slam shut but she didn't open her eyes, she couldn't because she knew that he wouldn't be there when she did.

**AN – Oh dear… Haley's doing it again… Lucas is going to come back in the next chapter… I wonder what he thinks about all of this? Has he managed to work out any of what has been going on yet? And is Nathan going to come back? And if he does will Haley try to explain why she's doing what she is doing? Will he even let her begin to try? Hmmm…**

**Don't forget to leave me a review! x**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN – Hey! Thank you all so much for the reviews you left for the last chapter! I love each and every one of you for leaving such amazing comments and it's great to see that you are all still enjoying this story – even if I feel I should be handing out T-shirts reading "Haley get your act together!" to some of you (don't worry though, I completely understand your reasoning for needing to vent your frustrations and I guess that it's good that you are all feeling so strongly about Haley and Nathan in this story!)**

**I know that Haley is frustrating most, if not all of you (although some of you that reviewed the last chapter seemed to understand where she was coming from once you thought about her situation a little bit) but I promise it all adds to the story! And maybe (?) you will be less frustrated with her by the end of the next couple of chapters – if my original planning of the next couple of chapters doesn't run away with me that is, which is highly possible!**

**Again, as always, a few words to those of you who don't have an account – **Irene – **Thank you so much for leaving the review and it puts a big smile on my face to read that you think this is the best story around at the moment, that really is amazing, so thank you! **Mel – **Thanks for leaving the review, I'm so pleased you enjoyed the last chapter, I know Haley is frustrating but hopefully she'll get over it soon...! **phillies22 – **Thanks for the review, as for Nathan's reaction, well you'll see some of it in this chapter. As for how long this story will be, at the moment I have no idea; sorry I can't give you something more specific! I just know it will be long, probably, knowing me! And as for the happy ending… keep reading! **Shelly – **Thanks for leaving the review. I'm happy you liked the way the 'I love you's' ended up playing out. And thanks for the happy early birthday! And no problem about responding to the reviews, I appreciate you taking the time to leave some comments! **Daize – **Thanks so much for leaving the review! I'm glad you liked the update. As for the drama, there is plenty more to come… and as for Tom… well wait and see!**

**Sorry for the time it took to update, but I was busy celebrating my birthday all of last weekend, which is why this chapter took so long to get ready for you guys, I got halfway with it before the weekend and then got distracted with presents and parties!**

**Alright, after another incredibly long AN, on with the story… as I said in the previous chapter's AN, Lucas is back in this chapter… has he managed to work anything out yet, or does he need a few more blatant hints?! And where the hell has Nathan run off too, and is he coming back? What's Haley going to do..? So many questions… I guess I'd better give you guys some answers...**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Carly watched in complete disarray as Nathan grabbed his shirt from the corner of the room, stomped out of the kitchen, and then proceeded to slam the front door shut with what sounded like as much force as he could once he had walked out of the apartment completely. It wasn't that she was surprised at his actions, because storming out of rooms was a common occurrence where Nathan was concerned, especially when he was arguing with a woman and so couldn't start punching the living daylights out of them, hell she had been through enough disagreements in the past with him to know that it was just normal for him to act this way, but it was the context of this particular argument which had caught her full attention. As soon as he had walked out of the apartment, she turned her attention immediately to Haley, who was standing completely rooted to the spot, her eyes were shut tightly and she had her arms wrapped protectively around her chest, and she instantly felt sorry for her, she obviously had yet to experience Nathan act like this, and he was most certainly a force to be reckoned with.

She didn't know what the fuck had just happened, she didn't know who the hell to talk to first, all she did know was that something serious had just occurred right in front of her eyes, especially given that Nathan had told this girl that he loved her, she didn't think she had ever heard him say those words to anyone… not since she had known him at least, which was why it was a complete shock to her system, as she had almost started to believe that Nathan was utterly incapable of having such feelings about anyone. She opened her mouth a couple of times, wondering what the hell to say to Haley, all the while knowing that she needed to run after Nathan, but she didn't want to leave this girl that she had just met alone, at least not until she knew that she was alright, and she also really didn't want to interfere where she wasn't wanted… but she knew she needed to do something, this was just such a momentous occasion in Nathan's life, she couldn't let him screw it up, not if he really did love this girl standing in front of her. "Are you okay?" She asked lamely as she placed her spoon back in her cereal bowl, she wasn't hungry anymore, especially given that something far more interesting than Lucky Charms had caught her attention.

Haley didn't say anything for a while. What kind of a stupid fucking question was that? Of course she wasn't okay; Nathan had just had a complete hissy fit, and he wasn't listening to a damn word that she was saying to him. She had known that he wouldn't take what she needed from him easily, and she had guessed that he would be upset about the whole break thing resurfacing, but equally she hadn't expected him to just storm out of the apartment like that.

But despite how upset she was at him, she couldn't help that the last words he had said to her were echoing in her mind. _You should be sorry. _He had sounded so broken, so forlorn and distant, and those words he had spoken had sounded so final. She didn't know what to think. That couldn't be it; he couldn't have just left her. She didn't know what the hell she was going to do if that was the case, if what she had shared with him had ended, she was sure that she would just shrivel up and die, or at the very least become incredibly depressed, she desperately wanted him in her life, she just knew that she had to end things with Tom first.

She took some calming breaths and opened her eyes. She needed to be strong; she wasn't going to let this Carly person see how hurt she was, no doubt she would reiterate her weakness right back to Nathan, and so she needed to sound resolute with her decision over this break that she needed and ensure that she sounded okay when she spoke, for she knew that Nathan would try to exploit any hint of a crack in her demeanour, last night had been a fine example of that. "I'm fine." Haley said in the strongest voice she could find in that moment, but she knew that she didn't sound all that convincing. She then picked up her glass and drunk the rest of the water that was in it, even though she wasn't thirsty at all, all she felt was completely empty, but she needed to occupy herself with something, so she drank.

Carly knew that she wasn't okay; she knew that she was far from okay, but she also knew what Nathan was like. If he was left to stew in his anger, then this was just going to get a hundred times worse than it already was, so she had to run after him. She wanted to find out what the hell was going on, and she didn't feel comfortable asking Haley for information when she had only just met her, so she was going to have to get it all out of Nathan, which wouldn't be an easy feat by any means. She wanted to know if she could help fix this, whatever the hell it was, in fact, she was going to make damn sure that she did help fix this. "Are you sure?" She asked again, just double checking.

Haley closed her eyes again. She instantly realised that she needed to find Nathan, she needed to make him understand that this wasn't what she wanted but that it was necessary, she didn't want him to be upset and angry and her, she just wanted him to understand. "I should go after him." Haley said decisively as she put her glass back down on the counter.

Carly knew that if Nathan saw Haley now, he would go absolutely spastic at her; he needed time to calm down and he also needed someone to reason with him before he saw her again. "Haley, I don't mean to interfere but I know what Nathan is like when he gets like this, it's probably better if you give him a chance to cool off for a bit. I can go after him and see if I can calm him down a little bit before you see him, if you'd like?" Carly offered, praying that Haley would agree to this, otherwise there wouldn't be a hope in hell of this ever getting resolved, even though she didn't really understand what the fuck had happened between them both.

Haley took a moment to think it over. She didn't want Nathan to think that she didn't care, she didn't want him to jump to the conclusion that just because she hadn't gone after him, that she accepted this… whatever the hell he had just done. But Carly had known him since college, well that was what she knew from the conversation she'd had with Nathan last night, and she had never really encountered him in a situation like this, so she had to trust that Carly knew best. So she found herself nodding her head, accepting Carly's over to go after Nathan for her.

Carly was extremely relieved when she saw Haley nodding her head. "Okay, I'm just going to go and find Nathan and check that he's okay, and then I'll come back here." She stated as she jumped off the stool and headed towards the front door. "Are you sure you are okay?" She asked once more, as she turned around to face Haley. She felt a little bit bad leaving her like this but she knew she had a much better chance at helping to fix this if she left now and found Nathan, rather than staying with Haley.

"I'm fine, honestly." Haley repeated to her again, knowing fore well that she was anything but, and she watched as Carly left the apartment in the same clothes that she had been wearing last night, heels and handbag included. _Fuck what a mess! _Haley thought to herself. She didn't have a clue what was going on right now, she also didn't know if she even wanted to know what Nathan was thinking at the moment, especially if it meant that he wanted to end things. She sighed to herself and just hoped that Carly was able to help, and not hinder the new turn of events, she didn't feel at all at ease with the thought that her relationship with Nathan seemed to be in the hands of some girl that she had just met, well for the moment it was anyway, but she was going to have to accept that Carly knew how to handle Nathan much better than she did given the mood that he was in right now.

~*~

Nathan didn't bother waiting for the elevator, he was too angry and impatient to, and so instead he ran down the stairs, desperately wanting to just get out of the building. His fists were still clenched at his sides and he could feel himself trembling with the rage that was coursing through him. He honestly couldn't believe her, after everything that had happened between them last night, after she had said those wonderful words to him, after she had finally opened up to him fully, she had to go and close herself off from him completely again. He was absolutely distraught, he didn't understand, and he didn't want to understand why she was doing this, because he couldn't come up with a positive answer to all the madness. And he wasn't sure if he had the strength left inside of him to try and get through to her one more time; he didn't think he could handle it if he failed to make her see that they couldn't be apart again, he wasn't robust enough to withstand that kind of rejection twice, and definitely not where she was concerned, once had been more than enough for him to take. Maybe it would just be easier to walk away from it all.

He hated the fact that that thought had even entered his mind, but he couldn't help it, for surely if they were meant to be together then it shouldn't be this hard, this difficult, it definitely shouldn't take this much effort to just be boyfriend and girlfriend. But despite his doubts, there was this part of him that was so sure that he was meant to be with Haley, he couldn't imagine his life without her, and he knew that it was crazy to be so dependent on someone he had for all intents and purposes only been with for a short amount of time, especially when for all of the time that he had been with her, she theoretically belonged to another man, and in fact, she still did, but he couldn't help the way that he felt about her.

He knew that he felt so strongly about her, but even his feelings for her obviously didn't change that fact that she still belonged to someone else. And it was this bond or obligation or whatever the fuck she thought it was, that still tied her to this other man, it was the very fact that she was someone else's which had caused this fucking state of deadlock.

Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, he pushed his way quickly through the front door of the building, heading for the sunlight, hoping that once he got outside that the light would provide him with some much needed answers and possibly help calm himself down. However, once he was outside, he was disappointed to find that he was still just as confused and angry as he had been inside of the building, and none of his questions had magically been answered. He hovered outside of the building, wondering which way he should turn, trying to convince himself that this was really what he was debating, because he didn't want to admit to the fact that he was really giving Haley a chance to come and run after him and tell him that it had all been a mistake, that she hadn't been thinking straight. It was beyond ridiculous, the power she held over him, but he was too weak to stop it, for he knew that he should have the strength to just walk away, but he couldn't muster any of it. He eventually decided that he would give her another minute and then walk away, that seemed fair but not desperate. So he stood up against the building and waited.

Two minutes came and went and he was still standing against the building feeling more and more sorry for himself, and the anger and resentment he held for Haley was building and building until he was just about ready to race back up the stairs and shout it out with her. But he knew that he couldn't do that, for a shouting match, however good it would make him feel right now, would only make things much worse in the long run, and nothing would get resolved anyway. So dejectedly he pushed himself away from the wall and walked away, he had no idea where he was going; he just let his feet lead the way. He couldn't begin to describe how he was feeling, he just felt completely hollow, defeated and of course, he was absolutely furious.

Carly had just reached the front door to the building and looked frantically from left to right, hoping that she hadn't been with Haley for too long as she had no idea how the hell she was going to find Nathan in this huge city if she couldn't see him right away, but thankfully, she caught sight of him just turning around the corner, walking away from the main roads and heading for the quieter back streets. She ran after him in her heels, cursing the fact that she had left her suitcase at his office and so couldn't change into something more comfortable, and finally rounded the corner. "Nathan!" She called after him.

Nathan heard Carly shout after him but he didn't turn around; he was pissed off at the fact that it was her and not Haley who was running after him. Didn't Haley care about him at all? If she did then surely she would be the one running around the streets of New York after him, and not his friend from college. He cursed himself at the fact that he found his feet were slowing down though, giving Carly a chance to catch up with him, all because of the reason that she had just been with Haley, maybe she had something good to tell him, and maybe that was the reason why she was running after him, maybe Haley wanted him to go back to the apartment to talk or something.

Eventually, Carly managed to catch up with him, but by now her feet were in so much pain, she contemplated taking her heels off and whacking him around the head with them, but she decided to reserve that tactic until after she had worked out what was going on between him and Haley, and then she could decide whether he deserved a whack around the head or not. "Why didn't you stop?" She asked while huffing and puffing, trying to catch her breath.

Nathan shrugged and continued walking, picking up the pace a little. He had slowed down a little for her, what more did she fucking want from him? He would have stopped, obviously, if it had been Haley running after him, but it wasn't her, so he didn't feel the need to stop completely and he certainly didn't feel the need to explain himself to Carly, so he didn't say anything.

Carly sighed as his nonverbal answer and walked right alongside him. She could feel the blisters beginning to form on her feet, clearly strappy, five inch sandals were not meant to be worn first thing in the morning after having been worn the whole of the previous night, while trying to keep up with Nathan Scott, who was now walking so fast, he may as well have been running, or at the very least jogging. She winced in pain each time either of her feet connected with the pavement, but he wasn't relenting in his pace, so she grabbed hold of his arm and spun him around to face her, stopping him from moving any further in the process. "Nathan, come on, stop it! My feet are killing me!" Carly cried out.

Nathan sighed heavily when he felt her stop him from progressing any further. "Well I didn't fucking ask you to come after me Carly, so just get lost and leave me alone." He snapped at her. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with her right now; in fact he wasn't in the mood for anything other than to wallow in his own self pity. And if she had come to tell him that Haley wanted to see him, well she would have told him by now, so it was obvious that she wasn't following him for that reason.

Carly rolled her eyes at him. "I know you didn't ask me to come after you Nathan, but I figured after what I had just witnessed up there that you could do with a friend, someone to talk to, you know?" She said, her eyes wide and knowing.

Nathan knew that she was just being a good friend, but he was so angry at this whole situation, he didn't want her there, he just wanted to be alone and be left to stew, and more than anything, he really didn't want to even think about what had just happened, least of all talk to her about it, not yet anyway. "I haven't got anything left to say about that Carly. So you may as well just go alright?" He returned sharply.

"Fine, I'll go if you want me to, and you can just wallow in your anger like you always do, but you know doing that isn't going to help Nathan. You've been doing that ever since I met you all those years ago and it has never helped anything, has it? And something tells me that what you have with Haley actually means something to you. Right? So don't you fucking screw this up by doing what you always do. Don't crawl into yourself and shut everyone out; please don't do that to yourself." Carly pleaded with him, hoping that she was getting through to him because if he had even an ounce of sense, if he really felt as strongly as she thought he did for this Haley girl, then he would not walk away in a huff like she knew he was fully capable of doing, and he would at least try to talk to her about this. She lifted her foot off the ground, ready to whack him with the shoe if he took so much as one step away from her. She was determined that she wasn't going to let him screw this shit up.

Nathan looked down at the pavement, not wanting to admit how vulnerable he was at the moment, he certainly didn't want Carly to know how much Haley meant to him, he couldn't bear the thought of her knowing just how much of a hold Haley had over him, not when she had just seen what she had back at the apartment, for that made him weak and pathetic, which was something that he could never allow anyone to see in him. But as he thought back to all the other times that he had let his fury and anger overrule his emotions and actions, which happened frequently, he knew that she was right. Wallowing never got him anywhere, in fact, it usually made things worse. So instead of walking away from Carly, which he knew would be the wrong thing to do even if it felt right to him, he did the only thing his pride would allow him to do, which was not to admit any of this to her, but to stay in her presence. And she should be fucking grateful for that shit; it took a lot out of him to just stay there.

Carly lowered her foot back to the ground, surprised and pleased that he had listened to her, and it didn't seem that he was going anywhere. _God he really must fucking love her! _She thought to herself, especially if he was willing to swallow his pride and talk this out. If she hadn't just witnessed what she had back at the apartment, she would be taking the piss out of him so much right now, but she knew that he needed her help, so she restrained herself and saved it for another time. She cleared her throat. "So what the fuck was all that about?" She asked, not knowing where the hell else to start, and it seemed as good a place as any to begin.

Nathan sighed in frustration, there was no way he was going to rehash all that shit, he was still pissed about it all and rerunning it over again wasn't going to help him, it would only add to his anger, he was sure of it. "Carly, I told you I don't want to talk about it." He growled at her, letting her know that it wasn't up for discussion.

Carly shook her head at him. As much as she loved him, he could be such a man sometimes. She tried another tactic, a more 'Carly' like tactic. "So Haley seems great, what the fuck did you do to mess that shit up?" She asked, not relenting from the progress that she had made already, she was not going to let him get away with doing this half heartedly, she had got him to stay and now he was going to talk, whether he liked it or not.

Nathan could feel the anger boiling again, and he cursed himself for not running as soon as he heard her calling his name, for he knew she would do this; she was always poking her nose into his shit, poking it where it was most definitely not fucking wanted. "Fuck you Carly; you don't know shit so stop with the questions and accusations." Nathan snapped at her.

"Well I wouldn't have to keep second guessing all of this if you would just tell me what happened, would I?" Carly said with a knowing smile.

Nathan shook his head. What the fuck did it matter anyway, it was obvious that this break was going to happen, Haley wasn't going to change her mind about it, so what was the point in fighting with her? It was obvious to him that she didn't love him, and even if she did, well it wasn't enough clearly. And that thought turned him into an incredibly bitter man, and he also just wanted to get Carly off his back, so he somehow managed to put those feelings aside, he would deal with them when he was ready, right now; he didn't want to feel anything. "Nothing happened, alright. It's finished." Nathan said emotionlessly, for he knew that he would just break down if he allowed himself to feel even a hint of what he knew he was really feeling right now.

Carly stared at him in complete and utter astonishment, how he could just pass off what she had just witnessed back at the apartment as nothing was absolutely incredulous to her. "You can be such a fucking ass sometimes Nathan, you know that?" She shouted at him, almost ready to whack him around the head with her shoe, she would give him one more chance to redeem himself, and that was only because he looked so upset about the whole thing.

Nathan snapped his gaze right back to Carly's. "What makes me an ass?" He asked her, wondering what the hell he had done to deserve that outburst from her. He was the one in the right here; Haley was in the fucking wrong. He didn't deserve a fucking lecture on his behaviour from Carly and he sure as hell wasn't going to let her even start doing that, not when she didn't know shit about what had happened between himself and Haley.

"She fucking cares about you Nathan, can't you see that, she loves you! And you are acting like a complete dick!" Carly all but shouted at him. He really was a class A asshole if he couldn't see that. She didn't know why the hell he had walked out on Haley like that, but he'd better have a fucking good reason for it.

"If she fucking loves me then why the hell are you here and not her? She doesn't love me Carly, not if she can't even be fucking bothered to come and find me after we argue like that." Nathan shouted back, all his control over his temper was quickly wavering and he knew he wasn't far from losing it completely.

"She's not here because I told her to stay upstairs Nathan. She wanted to come after you but I know exactly what you're like and I know that you need to calm the fuck down before you see her again." Carly explained, getting annoyed with his anger and self pity, he always got like this, and it hadn't surprised her at all that it seemed he hadn't grown up since she had last seen him six months ago, let alone since college.

Nathan didn't know what to say to that. He was absolutely furious at the fact that Carly was now meddling in this enough to stop Haley from doing what she wanted. "What right do you have to stop her from coming after me?" He growled at her again.

Carly raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not saying that I have any right at all Nathan, I just explained to Haley that I know what you're like when you get like this, I've experienced it first hand, and judging from the look I saw on Haley's face once you had marched out of the apartment, it was obvious that she didn't have a clue how to handle you, so I offered to come after you instead and then she can come and find you once I get back up there, if you want her to." Carly explained further, hoping this time that he would understand and know that she was right to keep Haley upstairs for the moment.

Nathan hated that she had got him thinking about the fact that he had left Haley like that, as much as he thought that she deserved it, he still didn't like the fact that he had just walked out on her. But he wasn't going to let himself feel bad at the moment, as he didn't think that he needed to, so instead he allowed his anger at the whole situation to roll through him again. "Well you can just walk right back up there and tell her to not bother. I'm not fucking interested in being a part of this shit anymore. I just want to be alone." Nathan said as he flagged down a passing cab. He couldn't be around Carly right now, he needed time to digest what had happened, and he needed to focus on what he was going to do next, he needed time to contemplate whether he could live without Haley or not.

He hopped into the cab once it had pulled up to the curb and got inside. "Carly what the fuck are you doing?" He shouted at her when she pushed him further along the seats, getting in beside him. Couldn't she just do what he asked of her for once in his fucking life?

"You are not going to mess this up Nathan, and you are going to tell me what the fuck has gotten into you, whether you want to or not." Carly said sternly as she shut the cab door behind her.

~*~

An hour later, Carly found herself sitting in a Starbucks on Wall Street, after finally getting Nathan to open up to her. It had taken a few shots of espresso and plenty of evil glares from him, but he had relented when she told him that the quicker he talked, the quicker she would leave him in peace. But now that she had heard the whole story behind his relationship with Haley, she had some more questions; she was totally in shock at the situation he had found himself in. "So let me get this straight, you talked to her for like a couple of months, met her in the mornings before work, you knew that she had a boyfriend, kissed her, had an affair with her, and then you found out that she works for your company, as Luke's secretary, and she's living in your apartment? Oh, and you love her, and she loves you, but she wants some space so she can end things with her boyfriend before committing to you?" Carly asked, wanting to make sure that she had her facts straight.

Nathan wrapped his hand around the fifth espresso shot he had ordered and gulped it down, nodding his head as he did so. "Yep, that's pretty much it." He answered sullenly, realising just how mixed up his and Haley's lives really were.

"Jesus Nathan. Trust you to fall in love with someone who is totally unavailable." Carly muttered to herself as she took a sip of her black coffee.

"Haley is not totally unavailable." Nathan snapped back defensively.

Carly rolled her eyes at him. "She has a boyfriend!" She said incredulously. "Why the hell did you go and fall in love with her when you knew that she wasn't yours to have?"

Nathan opened his mouth at Carly's insinuation and thought about what had happened with Haley. "I didn't tell her that I loved her until she told me that she wanted to be with me properly." Nathan defended himself, pleased that he had found a way out of that accusation at least.

"Well if you have told me the story correctly, you actually told her that you loved her after she told you that she wanted this break that she's suggesting." Carly corrected him. "So yes, you did tell her that you loved her when you knew that she wasn't yours."

Nathan glared at Carly and her fucking mouth. She was making him doubt everything; she was twisting everything in a way that he didn't fucking like at all. This couldn't be his fault, all he wanted was to be with Haley and she seemed to be doing everything that she could to make that fucking impossible, after telling him that it was what she wanted, how fucked up was that?

"And I think she's partly right, she does need some time to end it with her boyfriend Nathan." Carly said nonchalantly as she took another sip of her coffee.

And now, after she had said that, he didn't just dislike what she was saying, he didn't like her period. "Well fuck you for that Carly; I thought you'd be on my fucking side." He snapped at her.

"This isn't about sides Nathan, if you love her, you'll give her the space that she needs. She's coming out of a pretty long relationship, she needs time." Carly said with a shrug and then placed her coffee down on the table and looked at Nathan. She knew how much he was hurting, but she also knew that this was Nathan Scott in love, and he looked fucking terrified, something that was completely alien for her to see in him. But she wasn't giving up on him just yet. "So what has you hating this break so much, scared she'll change her mind about being with you while she's away from you?" Carly asked as she eyed him suspiciously.

What was she, a fucking mind reader or something? "No." Nathan replied quietly as he grabbed a napkin from the centre of the table and started to rip it to shreds.

_Bingo! _Carly thought to herself as she raised an eyebrow at Nathan and sighed heavily, how could he not see how much Haley obviously loves him too? "You are seriously messed up Nathan." She stated.

"Thanks for that Carly." Nathan said sarcastically. He sighed when he realised that he had ripped the napkin up as much as he could and now had nothing to occupy himself with, nothing but his thoughts that was, and that was fucking dangerous territory for him at the moment.

Carly sat with him in silence for a while. She honestly had never seen him like this, and now that she knew the full story, she could see things from both sides. But she was here to deal with Nathan, so she would put her feelings about Haley's situation aside and try to focus on Nathan's point of view. "I know that deep down you know that she loves you Nathan, so your fears are completely irrational. She will still want you at the end of all this." She offered, hoping that her words would help erase his doubts about Haley leaving him.

"How do I know that she will still want me Carly? Nothing is certain." Nathan responded quietly, hating how vulnerable he was at the moment, he wasn't used to feeling like this at all. He was never very good at talking about his fears or his feelings.

"That's true Nathan, but I know what is certain, you'll lose her if you just give up and walk away from her. She needs to know that you are there for her too. It's obvious that she loves you but she has to break up with her boyfriend who she has been with for two years. That's not going to be easy, even if she doesn't have any feelings for him now; she probably did at some point. And don't forget that she knows her boyfriend much better than you think you do, so she knows how she needs to deal with him. If she says she needs a month to get this sorted, then give her a month." Carly said while looking at Nathan intently, trying to understand what he was thinking about the whole situation, wondering if she was getting through to him at all.

Nathan sighed and then lifted his head. He did know deep down that Haley cared for him at least, and in fact if he delved a little deeper he knew that she felt exactly the same way as he did, but it was just easier for him to forget that piece of information at the moment, it was much easier for him to be angry at her that way, because he really didn't want to understand any of this mess, he just wanted her and she wasn't having it and that made him incredibly frustrated. "Carly, how long does it take to tell someone it's over? One minute? Five? Ten at most. Not a fucking month. I just don't understand what reason she has for wanting so much time to do this." He said angrily, willing the fury to rise again inside of him, for he wasn't ready to consider feeling anything else at the moment, not enough time had passed yet, and he was still completely confused about the whole thing.

Carly nodded her head in understanding of his predicament and sighed. "Nathan, it's not for you to understand, like I said, she knows her boyfriend, she knows how to deal with him. You need to respect that."

"I still don't fucking get it." Nathan said resolutely. He knew he was right, it shouldn't take her that fucking long to end things with her boyfriend. He was so confused and angry at Haley for demanding so much time from him. Time was dangerous, and he hated not being in control of the situation, he had no idea what would happen in that month, which was what was fuelling his fears about losing Haley for good. He couldn't do it; he needed to be with her always.

Carly sighed again. He was being stubborn and she wasn't sure if she was going to get through to him at all. She had tried but it was obvious that he needed time to think about his next course of action. So she sat up in her chair and leaned over the table. "Nathan, please think carefully about what you do next. I know you don't want to lose her so don't act like an ass, the right thing to do is to be there for her, to understand and accept what she wants, however hard that might be for you to do. But equally, I know you, and I know that you don't give up on what you want and if you see something wrong with a situation, you'll fight until the very end about it. Just try to find a happy medium, some kind of middle ground. And I really am pleased that you found someone you care this much about. You deserve it." She said sincerely as she stood up and stepped away from the table.

Nathan let her words sink in and continued to look down at the table, unsure of what to do now.

Carly pushed her chair back underneath the table and she shook her head at Nathan, still not quite believing that it was him who was sitting in front of her, looking so lost and so in love. However, he was still the guy that she had met all those years ago at college, and she knew that if he wanted to, he could change this all around in his favour, he just needed to be smart about it. "You know, the Nathan Scott I know doesn't mope around all day and he certainly doesn't give up on anything that he wants." She said and then walked out of the coffee shop, leaving Nathan alone with his thoughts and hoping that her parting words had some kind of an impact on him. But she also knew that there was someone else he needed to talk to, so she grabbed her phone from her bag and made the call while walking towards Nathan's office to grab her suitcase given that she was in the area, before heading back to the apartment to see Haley.

~*~

Haley was getting worried now, it had been too long. She glanced at the kitchen clock and saw that a good hour and a bit had passed since Carly had left the apartment, and she hadn't come back yet. She didn't know if that was a good sign, or bad, but right now she was definitely leaning towards bad. She guessed that Nathan had run off so quickly that Carly hadn't even had a chance to catch up with him, and now she was wondering around trying to find him and he was alone somewhere, getting more and more frustrated and angry with her, which was something she really didn't want to happen, she just wanted a chance to make him understand why she was doing this. And she didn't even have Carly's mobile number so she couldn't even call her to check if her thoughts were correct. And she wasn't going to call Nathan, not when she didn't know what was going on, she wasn't going to give him the chance to end this over the phone. He would probably just send her call to voicemail anyway so there wasn't really any point in her trying to get a hold of him.

Another five minutes passed and Carly still hadn't returned. Haley had now all but convinced herself that Nathan was indeed alone somewhere and from what little information she had gathered from Carly about him being in these sorts of moods; well that wasn't a good sign. She debated with herself for a couple of minutes, wondering if she should stay put or go and look for him too, eventually deciding that from the way that he had stormed out of the apartment, it wasn't likely that he was going to return here any time soon so she may as well be looking for him along with Carly. So with that thought in her head, she raced up the stairs, pulled on the first pair of trousers and top that she could find, grabbed her bag and then ran out of the door.

Once she got outside, she realised that she had absolutely no idea where the hell to start looking for him. She didn't know if he had walked somewhere, got on the Subway, caught a cab, she really didn't have a fucking clue. She sighed in frustration, wishing for the moment that they lived in some small, quiet town so that the chances of finding him would be highly likely instead of damn near impossible. But she had to try and start somewhere, so she ran around to the main road, flagged down a cab and jumped inside of it, praying that her instincts were right.

Fifteen minutes later, Haley pulled up outside Starbucks on Wall Street. She had no idea if he would be here or not, but it seemed like a logical place to start looking for him, it was their place after all. But as she got out of the cab and asked the driver to wait there for a second so she could check if he was there, she wondered why the hell she would think that he would go to their place if he was pissed off at her, that didn't make any sense whatsoever. She shook her head at her idiotic ideas, trying to come up with some more places to look for him, but she still needed to double check that he was in fact not sitting inside Starbucks and so ran over to the window, gasping in shock when she saw Nathan sitting at a table with a mountain of empty espresso shots surrounding him. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face, even if it was only for half a second at seeing him there, for then she remembered how they had left things, and the smile on her face swiftly disappeared.

She raced over to the cab driver and threw some money through the window, probably paying the driver far more than she should be, and then walked inside Starbucks, keeping her eyes on Nathan the whole time. He hadn't looked up to see who had walked into the coffee shop and part of her was glad for that, as she wasn't sure if he would stay put if he knew that she had just walked in. She then walked over to the counter and ordered her usual latte, glancing over at Nathan every five seconds, just to check that he was still sitting there and hadn't run away. She was also trying desperately to work out his body language, but she had no idea what he was thinking or feeling from the way he was sitting. He was hunched over the table and was fiddling with one what she presumed was an empty espresso shot cup, and so she ordered him another. She wished that she could see his face from where she was standing but she couldn't, so instead of having an inkling about the mood he was in, she walked blindly over to his table with the drinks she had ordered and hovered for a few seconds, waiting for him to say or do something.

Nathan knew it was her, besides the fact that he could smell her disgustingly girly coffee, which of course he secretly loved the smell of, who the hell else would it be? He didn't acknowledge her though, he continued staring at the empty espresso cup he was playing with. He was trying to be rational, he had been trying desperately hard to find this 'middle ground' that Carly had suggested to him since she had left him here, but 'middle ground' or 'compromise' weren't words Nathan was used to having to apply to his life, and he really didn't want to have to start all that shit now, not when the compromise was being apart from Haley. He had always been an all or nothing kind of guy. And he hated the fact that he probably couldn't live with nothing, and Haley wasn't ready to give him all. So he was stuck in a rut and he didn't know what the hell to do about that yet and he also wasn't ready to talk to Haley at all, he was still angry at her, which is precisely why he said nothing, he was trying to find that middle ground, and not shouting at her again seemed like a good place to start.

Haley hated the silence. She was shifting from one foot to the other, she had no idea if she should just sit down, wait for him to ask her to sit down, or place his espresso shot on the table and just run the hell away from him. Running seemed like the most appealing option right now, however much of a wuss that made her, for it was obvious that he wasn't ready to talk to her yet. She hated not knowing what was going on, she hated being in the dark for all of this. She sighed and eventually decided that she would not take the coward's way out, and so she pulled out one of the chairs surrounding the table and sat down, placing the coffees on the table and pushing his espresso shot towards him a little, but stopping when it reached the centre of the table so he would at least have to reach out to grab it.

Damn her and the fucking espresso. He really didn't want to take it from her, but he needed the caffeine. He had been staring at the cup for a good minute and a half, not wanting to accept anything from her at the moment, but eventually, the smell overruled his childish thoughts and so he reached out to grab the mug and pulled it closer to him, not even opening his mouth to say thanks.

Haley smiled when she saw him reach out for the espresso; she hoped that by him taking it, it meant that he wasn't as mad at her as she thought he was, and she hoped that he would at least say thanks when he took it so that she could start talking. But he didn't say anything, he continued to stare down at the table, not taking a blind bit of notice that she was sitting there with him. She took a sip of her latte and placed it back down on the table, hugging it with both her hands, she felt incredibly uncomfortable being there with him, which was strange as she was usually so relaxed in his presence. She looked over at Nathan and noticed that he hadn't shifted positions since she had walked in, he hadn't even acknowledged that she was there really, apart from taking the espresso from the middle of the table. She looked down at the table after staring at him for a couple of minutes, and realised that he wasn't going to make the first move, so she decided to, unable to take any more of the heavy silence that was engulfing them. "Nathan…" She started.

He couldn't hear her voice, not at the moment, not when hearing it just reminded him of the fact that she didn't want them to be together for a whole fucking month. "Haley don't." He said quietly, closing his eyes, desperately trying to hold on to the middle ground and not veer onto the selfish bastard path that he could so easily walk down right now.

Haley sighed. She needed to talk to him, to explain. "But we really need to talk Nathan." Haley muttered to the table, hoping that he would at least give her the chance to try to tell him why she needed this.

"Haley I really don't think I'll want to hear any of what you have to say, and I am trying so hard not to get angry with you again, but you being here is not making that at all easy for me." He spoke honestly, hoping that she would get the hint and leave him alone for a while; he really needed to gather his thoughts.

Haley didn't want to leave him without trying at least to explain the situation she found herself in, so she ignored him and took a deep breath. He was here right now and she didn't know when, if, she was going to see him again, she saw this as her only opportunity to get through to him and she wasn't going to let it slip past her without her doing anything about it. She knew that if she didn't at least try that she was going to regret it immensely if she lost him. "Nathan my boyfriend is actually…"

"Haley please just shut the fuck up. I do not want to hear anything about your fucking boyfriend, I don't give a fucking shit about him, who he is, what he does, I really don't care." Nathan interrupted her in a low, dangerous voice, full of warning that he was going to lose it completely if she continued talking about that motherfucker.

Haley sighed deeply. He was doing it again; he wasn't listening to her at all, he wasn't giving her a chance to explain. She bit down on her lip, wondering what she should do. She looked over at Nathan and saw the death grip he had on the espresso cup and knew that he needed a couple of minutes to cool down. "I'm just going to pop to the restrooms and then I'll be back. I really hope that you can find it in you to let me explain all this Nathan. I really don't want to lose you over this." Haley said quietly and then left the table, grabbing her bag and heading in the direction of the ladies.

Nathan let out a long breath once Haley had left the table. He ran a hand through his hair and realised that he was totally fucked. He had no idea what the hell he should do, he really didn't want to have another screaming match with Haley but the middle ground was looking more and more like an unavailable option. The selfish bastard was rearing its ugly head but he couldn't help it, he absolutely despised hearing her talk about her boyfriend, it was just another cruel reminder that she wasn't really his, another way of letting him know that he had no claim on her whatsoever, she could, and probably would just walk away from him in the time that they would be apart. He knew he should give her the chance to explain her rationale behind the whole break thing, but it was like there was a brick wall standing in front of him, blocking out all reason, and he just couldn't seem to get over it at all, and he didn't want to either. Maybe he should try a little harder to understand like Carly had said but he didn't know if he was ready to talk to her sensibly about this yet. He thought back over what she had said to him. He didn't want to screw this shit up either. He loved Haley so much. He just didn't know how the fuck to go about all this. He just knew that he couldn't lose her.

"God Nate you look like absolute shit."

Nathan rolled his eyes and looked up to find Luke standing at the table. "Let me fucking guess. Carly called you." He sighed. Why the fuck she couldn't just leave shit alone he would never know.

"Yep she sure did, something about a lovesick Nathan sitting alone in a Starbucks on Wall Street. What the fuck man?" Lucas asked as he sat down on the chair Haley had just left. He looked down at the half empty latte and threw a questioning glance at Nathan, wondering whose drink this was, as he knew Carly didn't drink lattes and Nathan sure as hell didn't.

_Shit! _Nathan thought to himself. He had to go and let Haley know that Luke was here. He was just about to run over to the restrooms when he stopped himself. Why the fuck should he tell her? If Luke knew about them, then maybe she would stop all this madness. And it wouldn't be like he told his brother anything, he would be completely innocent in all this, he wasn't breaking any of the rules by allowing Luke to find out like this. And in fact, he had no idea what Carly had said to him, so he may know anyway, although, from the look on his face, he was sure that he didn't know, for if he did, Nathan was sure that a thousand and one questions would currently be being thrown his way, and even a fist or two at him having a relationship with his secretary. "Not mine dude." Nathan answered his brother's silent question and then drunk the espresso shot that Haley had bought him.

Lucas moved the latte to another table and then focussed his attention back on Nathan, who was avoiding his gaze. He couldn't be bothered with pandering around this shit, Carly hadn't given him any information on the phone, she had just said that Nathan needed him and then told him where he was. "Coffee Shop Girl got anything to do with your current state?" He asked, knowing the answer to the question before he even asked his brother the question.

Nathan lifted his gaze and looked his brother in the eyes. He sighed to himself and found that he was nodding his head.

"Thought as much. What did you do this time?" Luke asked, presuming that Nathan fucked something up as per usual.

"Why does everyone fucking presume that it's my fault all the time?" Nathan raised his voice, completely exasperated with everyone's assumptions that this was his fault.

"Because it usually is." Lucas answered simply. "So she did something, not you?"

"Yes she fucking did something." Nathan snapped. God he couldn't believe that he was now going to have a third conversation in one fucking morning about a subject that he just wanted to fucking forget about.

Haley had just stepped out of the restrooms and glanced over to the table Nathan had been sitting at, wondering if he had calmed down at all and saw that he wasn't alone at the table, for Lucas had now joined him. _Fuck_, was the only thought that entered her mind. She knew that she couldn't just walk back over there; she didn't want Lucas to know about her and Nathan at all. So that meant that she had to leave, for she couldn't stay and wait for him to go, as there was the risk that he would spot her and then call her over and then that would just be all kinds of awkward and he would know instantly that something was up. So she walked along the outer edge of the coffee shop, grateful that Lucas seemed to be engrossed in a conversation with Nathan. Nathan was sitting facing the door, and she noticed that as she looked around to him one more time before leaving, that he glanced up at her. She threw him a small smile, which unfortunately he didn't return, and then walked out. She just prayed that he would pick up his phone when she called him later, and that he was sensible enough not to blurt this all out to Lucas. She still wanted the chance to explain this all to him.

Nathan watched as Haley left and was slightly pissed at the fact that she had obviously spotted Luke at the table. But she had asked him not to tell Luke about their relationship, and so in the spirit of all this middle ground shit, he was going to respect that and not say anything to Luke about the fact that Coffee Shop Girl was Haley his secretary. See, he was making fucking progress already.

"So what did she do then? It must have been pretty serious to have you sitting here, in what I can only presume is in fact the very coffee shop that Coffee Shop Girl was found in, on a Saturday surrounded by more espresso shots than I could even imagine drinking." Luke asked.

Nathan looked up at his brother, and decided that he may as well allow him to throw in his two cents on all this as well. In fact, he could do with another opinion on the matter, given that he was at a complete loss at what to do about it. Carly had been too cryptic, and this middle ground shit sounded too much like failing to him. So he told him about the fact that Coffee Shop Girl had changed her mind about them being together properly and now wanted a month to break things off with her boyfriend. He left out any part which would allow his brother to connect the dots, like the apartment and the fact that she worked at his company.

"And you don't want to be apart from her for a month?" Lucas asked once Nathan had explained the situation.

"Of course I fucking don't." Nathan answered like his brother was all kinds of stupid, which quite frankly, for asking that question, he was.

"Well it's simple then. Make her jealous." Lucas said nonchalantly as he sat back in his chair.

Nathan lifted his head again and looked at his brother with an incredulous look on his face. "You really are fucking retarded aren't you? How is making her jealous going to help this fucking situation?"

"Trust me dude, I know women. Brooke goes all kinds of crazy when she's jealous, and all she wants is sex, it's like she has to prove to me that I belong to her, and she can't help herself at all." Lucas answered while looking at Nathan, realising that he was completely lost and not at all sold on the idea. "Look, say Brooke and I are in a club or something and some girl tries in on with me… well she goes all possessive and literally can't keep her hands off me, she drags me home and we have the best sex ever."

"So..?" Nathan asked, wondering where the hell Lucas was going with this, and he fucking hoped that it was somewhere good because he still had absolutely nothing.

"Well if you're having sex with Coffee Shop Girl, you're not apart from her are you?" Lucas said with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmm." Nathan pondered. Lucas had a point there. If he managed to do this, then maybe Haley would break it off with her boyfriend quicker and then they could just get past all this shit. But he was going to have to do it carefully, really think up a good way of putting this jealousy into action, as he was sure that Haley wasn't going to be in many of the same places as him over the next month, in fact if she was going to be sorting out her boyfriend, she would probably be avoiding him like the plague.

"It's a fucking amazing idea right?" Lucas asked excitedly, pleased that he could help his brother get over this.

"It isn't bad Luke." Nathan replied, still pondering how he could put this into action, while finding that fucking middle ground that Carly had been banging on about. Jealousy was a crazy emotion; hell look what it had turned him into, a fucking lovesick puppy.

"Good, so just do it, make her jealous and I promise this break will last for fucking five minutes." Lucas said with a smile. "She won't be able to resist you."

"I might just do that." Nathan said distantly, still thinking about how he could put this jealousy plan into action, because it was going to have to be fucking good for him to pull this off as effectively as he wanted to.

Lucas was pleased that he had kind of managed to get Nathan out of his dreary haze and then remembered that he had been meaning to ask him something since last night. "Nate, do you know Tom's fiancé?" He asked.

"Never met her in my life. Why?" Nathan asked distractedly, still trying to conjure up a Make Haley Jealous plan in his head.

"Nothing, it's just she kind of ran out of the party last night just before she was going to meet you and I wondered if you knew her or something. It was just really weird." Lucas responded. He made a mental note to go and check on Haley once he was finished here too, to check if she was okay, he had never seen her flip out like that before, she was usually so in control of everything, it wasn't like her at all.

"Sounds it." Nathan responded distantly still thinking about what he was going to do next.

Lucas could tell that he had completely lost Nathan in thought and was pleased that instead of pining, he appeared to be plotting, which was a good sign and so he decided to leave him to it. "Okay, well I'm going to head off, I'll catch you later." Lucas said as he stood up from where he was sitting and left Nathan to ponder his approach.

~*~

Haley was pacing around the apartment, trying to find things that needed doing to occupy her time. She wasn't sure how long she should give Nathan before she tried to call him, but half an hour just didn't seem long enough. So she took Carly's bowl of uneaten cereal from the island in the middle of the kitchen and started to wash it up, even though they had a dishwasher to keep herself busy. Then she grabbed some surface spray and started to clean the whole kitchen, when she heard a knock on the door. She pulled off the rubber gloves she had put on, placed them in the sink and walked over to the door, pushing her hair out of her face as she went. She opened the door and was surprised to find Lucas standing there. "Luke?" She questioned, praying that he hadn't come around here to shout and scream about her having an affair with his brother. She was going to kill Nathan if he had told him. And she hadn't forgotten the fact that Lucas had neglected to tell her who the fucking owner of this damn place was, she was livid at him for that, for if she had known, maybe she could have put two and two together earlier, and then maybe she could have ended things with Tom quicker, and maybe she and Nathan wouldn't be on the fucking rocks. But equally, she knew that she couldn't just blurt that out, because he would think that she was a madwoman if he didn't already know about her and Nathan, and she wasn't going to be the one to tell him. No fucking way.

"Hey Haley, can I come in?" Lucas asked.

He seemed calm enough, and so Haley let him walk past her before closing the door behind her while taking a deep breath, hoping to calm her racing heart. "What can I do for you?" She asked suspiciously.

"I was wondering the same thing! You got more than a little freaked out yesterday at the party when you ran out and I wanted to make sure that you were okay." Lucas said as he led the way into the kitchen and sat down on one of the stools at the island.

"Oh." Haley replied as she grabbed some glasses from the cabinet, more than a little relieved that it seemed that Nathan hadn't spilled details of their relationship to Lucas. "You want a drink?" She asked.

"Water would be great." Lucas responded, while waiting for Haley to answer him.

Haley poured water into both glasses and handed one to Luke, keeping one for herself. "I'm fine; I just didn't feel very well and needed to get out of there, that's all." She told him as she took a large gulp of the water.

"You sure that's it?" Lucas asked, not really believing what she was saying, giving her a chance to tell him what was really going on.

"Honestly, I'm sure." Haley replied and then looked around the kitchen, trying to avoid his questioning gaze, finding other areas which needed cleaning and making a mental note to start on those once Luke had left.

"Have you spoken to Tom?" Lucas questioned as he took a sip of his water, all the while watching Haley's reactions.

Haley clutched her arm around her stomach. "No I haven't." She replied honestly.

"Well don't you think…" Lucas started but was interrupted by someone coming through the front door.

"Haley I'm so sorry I took so long. I found him but…" Carly shouted and then ran into the kitchen, halting when she saw Lucas standing there. "Luke!" Carly said in a surprised tone. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm just checking on Haley." Lucas responded with equal surprise. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked, wondering how the hell she had got in the damn place without Haley knowing that the apartment was his brothers. He looked over at Haley and saw that she wasn't in the least bit surprised at seeing Carly there, and she hadn't mentioned anything to him about his brother, which must have meant that she still didn't know that Nathan owned the place, so he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"Your brother's letting me stay here until the hotel reservation on Monday kicks in." Carly explained.

"That's nice of him." Lucas responded tightly. He wasn't comfortable discussing anything to do with Nathan in front of Haley; he still didn't know how the hell he was going to tell her about that and after what he had witnessed last night, it was obvious to him that she had some shit going on in her life, and he certainly didn't want to add any other worries to her pile.

"Don't worry Carly, I found him too." Haley said to Carly, letting her know that she hadn't just been sitting here worrying about where he was.

"Oh." Carly said, surprised that she had found him, they had gone to a Starbucks which was so far away she had no idea how she had managed to locate him. She continued looking at Haley, trying to work out if her finding Nathan had been a good thing or bad, but she wasn't getting anything. She was wishing that Luke would just leave right now so that she could just straight up ask her about it. She had guessed that Luke didn't have a fucking clue about his brother and Haley from when she called him earlier and he started talking about his brothers fucked up relationship with some Coffee Shop Girl and not Haley his secretary, and she was that much of a meddler to tell him about it, so she had kept quiet.

"So…" Lucas said, trying to break up the awkwardness that was filling the air, wanting to get the hell out of there as quickly as he could, he needed to ask Nathan how he had managed to get Carly in the apartment without Haley seeing him.

All three of them looked up in surprise when they heard the front door open and then close. Lucas looked around, seeing that no one else other than the three of them would have a key to the place, so he was more than a little confused as to who the hell could be walking inside the apartment. He furrowed his brow and walked out of the kitchen, nearly dying of a fucking heart attack when he saw his brother standing in the hallway with a fucking suitcase in his hands. "What the fuck are you doing here Nathan?" Lucas shouted at him, realising that Haley was standing right behind him, and now the cat was well and truly out of the fucking bag.

Nathan looked up and took in all three of them standing there looking at him. Lucas was looking at him with the most bewildered expression on his face, and also he seemed ready to start punching him to death, Haley was standing behind his brother looking between himself and the suitcase and her face portrayed a look of complete and utter fury as he presumed that she was trying to work out what he was doing back in his apartment with a suitcase, and Carly was just smiling at him. "I'm moving back into my apartment Luke." Nathan said casually as he lifted his suitcase and walked towards the stairs.

**AN – Alright guys… bit of a long chapter but we had to get to the point where Nathan was moving in and it took a while for him to decide what he was going to do next…**

**For those of you that review (and have an account as I don't know how I can do this for those of you without one unfortunately :o( ), as a thank you, when I respond I was thinking of giving you all a bit of a teaser for the next chapter, so when you leave the review, let me know if you want a little snippet of what's coming up in the next chapter and I'll send you something when I have it written, which I hope will be soon! That way you won't have to wait as long as the whole update takes me! Thanks!**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN – Hey! Thank you all so much for leaving the reviews for the last chapter! You all make me smile so much and you all honestly make me wish I could write every single second of every day so that you guys wouldn't have to wait so long in between updates!**

**I had some very interesting responses to the sneak peek that I sent to those of you that asked for it, and you guys really do make me laugh... I know the sneak peek was a tad mean (I kind of left it at an interesting point, to say the least) but the chapter is now here so you can all read on and see if your theories were correct or not.**

**I also just wanted to let you guys know (for those of you who missed it or don't read Kiss the Rain where I talked about this in my AN on the latest chapter for that story) that I wrote a one shot called High Heels and Blushes (go and check it out, just click on my penname at the top of this page, which will take you to my profile page and you'll find the story there). And seriously, I am like totally overwhelmed by the response that story has got, I've had like a permanent smile etched on my face since I posted it! Kelly can vouch that I was more than a little sceptical and nervous about the idea, but seriously, I love all of you guys for taking the time to read it and leave me such AMAZING comments! **

**I'm off to Switzerland this weekend which is why you're getting an update from me so quickly after posting Kiss the Rain, as I wanted to give you guys something before the weekend, given that I'll have no time to write while I'm away! And then in the middle of June I am going to be sunning myself for a week while sipping as many cocktails as I can with one of my friends in Bulgaria, I can't wait! I really need some sunshine!**

**Right, as always many thanks to those of you who reviewed but don't have accounts... **rosy **– thank you so much for the review and I am so pleased that you are enjoying the story, I hope you like this chapter. **Brutus **– thanks for leaving the comment, I am glad you liked the chapter. As for Nathan's plan working, well read on to find out if he does manage to make her jealous or not! I hope you enjoy the update. **Mel **– I am happy that you like Nathan's idea of moving in... And yes, there are some interesting bits coming up in the story..! I hope you like the chapter! **Becca **– Thanks so much for leaving the review. I'm glad you think this is different from other fics; I try to put my own spin on things! I hope you like the update.**

**Major thanks to Kelly again for looking over this chapter for me, I don't know what I'd do without you honey!**

**Right, so I'm going to shut up now. Hope you all enjoy! Please read ahead with caution – this fic is M rated for a reason... **

**Chapter Fourteen**

Lucas couldn't move. He felt like he was paralysed by the shock that was running through his whole body. What the fuck had Nathan just said? Moving in? What? He had to be joking. But as he watched Nathan walk up the stairs with his suitcase in his hands, he realised that his brother had in fact been serious. He really was moving into the apartment. Hell no! The reality of his brother's words suddenly hit him and he knew that he needed to do something to stop this insane idea of his. So he decided to run up the stairs after him, nearly tripping over his feet as he climbed up behind his brother, all the while thinking to himself that this just couldn't be happening. Especially as now Haley was going to find out that Nathan owned the apartment. She was probably going to get really angry at the fact that he hadn't told her the truth about who owned the place, and not want to live with her boss, which would mean that she would move out and he knew that it was unlikely that she would be able to afford anything remotely close to work on her salary. That would then mean that she was going to have to move further away from the office again, get sick of the commute and then he would lose a fucking excellent secretary. He was absolutely reeling at Nathan, he was going to have to give Haley a motherfucking huge raise just so he wouldn't lose her, not that she didn't deserve it anyway, she was outstanding at her job, but he was literally going to have to double her salary just so that she could afford to live somewhere half decent in Manhattan. But then he quickly remembered that he couldn't just raise her salary because all the secretaries in the company were paid the same fucking amount. He was going to have to promote her... that's what he was going to have to do. But first he had to deal with his motherfucking brother.

Nathan reached the top of the stairs and headed down the corridor to his bedroom, fully aware that Lucas was hot on his heels, but he really didn't care at all about what Lucas had to say. He was far too busy trying to analyse Haley's reaction to finding him arriving back at the apartment and announcing that he was moving in with her. To say that she was pissed off at him was probably the biggest understatement of the century, her face had been full of complete and utter fury at him, and although that didn't fit in entirely with his plan, it wasn't like her reaction wasn't to be expected. He was just going to have to work extra hard, but that didn't matter, he knew he was more than capable of making Haley want him, or at least he hoped that he was. He tossed his suitcase up onto his bed once he had walked inside of his room and opened it up just as Lucas slammed the door to his bedroom and walked inside of the room.

Lucas watched in absolute horror as Nathan started to unpack his suitcase, placing his clothes in the wardrobe, making him one hundred percent certain that his brother had not been joking about moving in, despite part of him still refusing to believe that this was actually happening. He had to do something to stop him, or at least he had to understand what the fuck had possessed him to do something this fucking stupid. "Nathan." He hissed at his brother.

Nathan rolled his eyes at Lucas, wishing that he wasn't such a fucking drama queen all of the time. So he was moving in? As far as Luke knew, he was only Haley's boss, what the fuck was the big deal with that? If he didn't want this situation to occur then he shouldn't have offered the apartment to Haley in the first place, even though he was extremely thankful that he had, obviously. He didn't turn around to face him, nor did he mumble anything back to him in response because he couldn't be bothered to deal with his brother's hissy fit. He just continued to unpack his suitcase, moving himself into his apartment which he now shared with Haley. He couldn't help smiling at that thought, even though she wasn't living with him willingly, she was living with him nonetheless, it was something, and right now, he would take all that he could get from her, especially when she was demanding a fucking month apart from him.

Lucas' eyes followed Nathan around the room. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing. He honestly just wanted to be woken up from this nightmare, he was sure that it couldn't be real. He couldn't take it anymore; he had to know what kind of idiotic thoughts were running through Nathan's head right now. "Nathan what... what the fuck do you think you're playing at?" He whispered angrily.

Nathan continued placing his suits in the wardrobe. "I'm not playing at anything." _As far as you know. _He added silently to himself."I'm just moving back into the apartment." He answered his brother casually.

"What the fuck do you mean, 'moving back in'?" Lucas asked, outraged by his brother's ridiculous response to his question, there was something that he wasn't telling him, he was sure of it. "You only ever used this place as a fucking sex pad; you've never fucking lived here permanently."

"Well I'm moving in permanently now." Nathan responded as he started to pull his shirts out of the suitcase and hang them up inside the wardrobe.

Lucas stuttered over his words, still trying to understand why the hell Nathan was doing this, wondering what the hell his motivations behind his actions were. "Why the hell are you moving in now?" He asked.

Nathan sighed; all he really wanted was for Lucas and Carly to leave him and Haley alone so that he could start putting his plan into action. Lucas and Carly being in the apartment was costing him time, time that he really didn't want to waste. "Because I am sick of hotel rooms Lucas and my house out of the city is too far away from the business." He answered, coming up with what he thought was a pretty decent reason for wanting to be at the apartment.

"That never fucking bothered you before Nathan. I mean we had a fucking deal." Lucas all but shouted at him, mindful of the volume of his voice, for he didn't want Haley to hear what was being said between them.

Nathan turned around and faced Lucas. "You're damn right we had a fucking deal. I asked you to tell her about me owning this place fucking ages ago, so don't you start getting pissed off at me because you didn't have the balls to tell her yourself Lucas." He snapped at his brother, exasperated with all the effort this was taking. All he wanted was for him to fucking leave him and Haley alone. He really didn't need Luke digging into him right now; he had enough on his fucking mind as it was without adding Lucas' petty problem with him living in his own God damned apartment to his growing list of issues to deal with. Haley's fucking break was too much for him to deal with, let alone all this shit that was coming from Lucas.

Lucas sighed in frustration. He knew that Nathan was right but that didn't stop him from being furious with him. "I swear to God if Haley fucking quits because of this I will be so fucking angry Nathan." He said seriously. "And if you fuck this up..." He sighed again. "Does she even know who you are?"

Nathan had heard enough, he unbuttoned the shirt he still had on from when he stormed out of the apartment earlier and threw it on the floor before walking towards the door of his bedroom. "She won't fucking quit Luke, so just shut the fuck up. I'll go down and introduce myself now alright? Will that make you happy and shut you up?" He shouted as he walked along the corridor and headed back down the stairs.

~*~

Haley had since walked back into the kitchen and was now leaning against the counter top, wondering what the fuck she had done to deserve all of this. Well the answer to that was probably obvious, cheating on your fiancé wasn't the most saintly of actions, but Jesus Christ, why the hell was Nathan doing this? Why the hell couldn't he just do as she asked? One month. It was just a fucking month. She let out a long sigh as she heard Carly walk in behind her.

"Well this is going to be interesting!" Carly said with a huge grin plastered over her face as she followed Haley into the kitchen. She honestly never thought that Nathan would come up with anything as inventive as this, she was rather proud of him actually and it was certainly going to add some drama to his and Haley's situation, and hopefully sort it out properly too.

"Tell me about it." Haley muttered to herself. She shook her head as she mulled over what she could do to fix this. Moving out was the most obvious option, but she knew that she would never be able to afford anything as nice as this, in fact, there was probably nothing that she could afford in Manhattan on her salary, so then she was back to facing that God awful commute again as she would have to move off the island, which she really couldn't handle having to do every day again, and besides, she liked living here...

"Haley, can I give you some advice?" Carly asked tentatively, unsure of whether she was overstepping the mark here or not.

Haley looked over at Carly from where she was standing and nodded her head. Obviously Nathan had explained the situation to Carly when she had talked to him earlier, but still, neither Carly nor Nathan knew the full extent of the mess that was her and Nathan's relationship. She knew that she probably wouldn't like what Carly had to say, given that she was Nathan's friend and all, but she wanted to hear what she thought about this big mess anyway, another opinion from someone not involved may bring some sense to all the shit that was going on.

"Please just tell me to fuck off if I'm overstepping any sort of boundaries." Carly said with a wave of her hand and then took a deep breath as she became more serious. "But, I have known Nathan since college, and I can honestly say that I have never seen him act like this, I've never seen him care about someone as much as he cares about you. He loves you Haley, and I just really hope that you don't break his heart."

Haley looked down at the floor and folded her arms across her chest protectively. "Carly, I love him too, and trust me; I have no intention of breaking his heart. I want to be with him, I just think that I need to make a clean break with… my boyfriend before we commit to each other properly." Haley responded, speaking the truth. That was all she wanted, that and for Nathan to understand and be respectful of why she was doing this, however, judging by what he had just done, the chances of that happening seemed pretty remote right now.

"And I agree with that Haley, but I'm going to warn you, Nathan really doesn't like the idea of being apart from you for that long. He thinks that something will change in the time that you aren't together, and I hope to God that it doesn't because I can see how much he loves you. I know you probably think that this is the right thing to do for not just yourself but for him also, but just please try to bear in mind his feelings in all this too." Carly said softly, promptly shutting herself up as she heard someone walk down the stairs.

Haley straightened her position on the counter as she heard two pairs of feet stomp down the stairs, but quickly decided that it would be much better if she busied herself with something, so she walked over to the fridge, dug out some ham and found some bread, deciding that making a sandwich would help keep her suitably occupied while Nathan, Lucas and Carly were all there with her. She really needed to get her head around this latest development, especially as she had absolutely no idea how she was going to survive living in the same apartment as Nathan, how was she going to be able to resist him? However, she was soon interrupted from her sandwich making by Nathan clearing his throat from behind her. She couldn't help the glare that she sent his way when she turned around to face him, especially when she realised that he was shirtless. Shirtless. For crying out loud! God he really was just fucking torturing her wasn't he? Flaunting that perfect body right in her face. She tried to look away from him but her eyes didn't want to cooperate, they seemed to be glued to his body. She really was trying to think about how he was feeling, but when he was doing completely irrational things like this, well it was hard for her not to completely freak out at him. But she needed to remain calm, especially as Lucas had no idea what was going on between them. She managed to pry her eyes away from his chest and looked down at the outstretched hand he had thrust towards her, a smug grin evident on his face when she looked back up at him to question what the hell he was playing at. She wanted more than anything to wipe that smile right off him; he knew exactly what he was doing to her.

Nathan raised his eyebrow at Haley, knowing that she wasn't about to go crazy on him, not when Lucas was here anyway, so he could get away with it all for the moment at least. He smiled at her as he saw her eyes roam over his naked chest, pleased as punch that she was looking at him like that, and then he stretched his arm out to her. "Haley is it?" He asked, the grin still spread right across his face. "I'm Nathan, Luke's brother; I own this apartment, as well as the company you work for. You haven't got a problem with me living here for a while have you?"

Lucas wanted to gag him. What the fuck kind of an introduction was that? He looked on at Haley, completely horrified at what he was witnessing, seeing her face getting more and more angry with each word that came out of his dick of a brother's mouth. God he really didn't want her to quit. If she quit on him, Nathan would be a dead man.

Haley could feel her cheeks turning red with the absolute rage that was running through her entire body. Yes she had a fucking problem with him living here for a while. She knew exactly what he was doing, introducing himself to her in front of Lucas just so that she couldn't start screaming and yelling at him, not if she didn't want Lucas to find out about them, so she was stuck and the only option available to her was to agree with this absolute lunacy. So she sucked in a sharp breath and shook his hand. "Yes, it's Haley, and no I don't have a problem with you living here." She squeezed his hand as hard as she could as she shook his, making sure that she dug her nails into his hand, letting him know that he was going to get an earful once they were alone.

_Fuck! _Her nails fucking hurt. But Nathan grinned back at her even wider than he had been doing, knowing that he was really riling her up. He looked deeply into her eyes. _You know how to end all this Haley. _He silently spoke to her in his head. All it took was one fucking phone call to end it with the boyfriend and then all this shit would be over. He released his grip on her hand before his hand started bleeding and turned to face Lucas who looked like he wanted to kill him just as much as Haley did. "See I told you there was nothing to worry about Luke. She has no problem with me living here; you haven't lost your secretary, everyone's happy." He said as he snatched some of the ham that Haley had been using to make her sandwich and pushed it into his mouth, quickly moving himself away from that knife that she was holding, as she looked like she wanted to twist it right into his body, and that shit would hurt much more than her damn nails had.

Lucas had heard enough. If he stayed here any longer, someone was going to get killed. He wasn't sure who was going to die, he could narrow it down to himself or Nathan, but he wasn't sure if it was going to be Haley killing him, or him killing Nathan. Therefore, given that he seemed to play some form of a part in either of those occurrences, he decided to remove himself from the scene of the potential crime. He still couldn't believe what Nathan had done but Haley had seemed rather accepting of it all, which surprised him. But then again, maybe she was waiting until they were alone to start telling him how she really felt about it all, so he really wasn't looking forward to Monday morning, if she was coming into the office at all. "Right, I'm going to head home then." He said quickly, wanting to get out of the apartment as fast as possible. "Haley, I'll see you on Monday?" He asked her, wanting to confirm that she hadn't in fact quit on him.

Haley was still glaring at Nathan. She didn't take her eyes off him as she spoke to Lucas. "Yes, I'll see you on Monday." She answered him through gritted teeth.

Relieved with her answer, Lucas quickly walked out of the kitchen and let himself out of the apartment, pleased that he had managed to get out of there alive and also without committing the murder of his asshole of a brother.

Carly, who had been watching the events unfold with much interest, couldn't help but laugh at the way things had turned out, and she also couldn't believe that Lucas hadn't guessed what was really going on here, he really was dense. She could see that Haley had some words that she wanted to say to Nathan, and it was probably best if she left them to it, however much as she wanted to stay and listen to what was about to be said. "Guys, I'm going to hit the shops and leave you to talk, and then I might see if some friends are free for dinner, so don't wait up for me." Carly stated as she bounced her way out of the kitchen, leaving Haley and Nathan to deal with whatever they needed to deal with, which seemed like a whole heap of shit.

Haley turned around once she and Nathan were alone in the kitchen and carried on making her sandwich, needing something mundane to keep her mind occupied and away from thoughts of stabbing Nathan with the fucking bread knife. She really couldn't understand why he had decided to do this, she didn't understand what he thought he was going to accomplish by being here, if anything, he was going to make things worse between them, she was sure of it.

Nathan couldn't help the chuckle that escaped from his lips as he leaned against the counter opposite from where Haley stood with her back to him as she continued to make her sandwich. He crossed his legs and folded his arms around his chest, shaking his head at how wonderful his plan was. Why he hadn't thought about this earlier, he had no clue, well he did really, it was because he didn't know that Haley was living in his place, but he should have found out about that much sooner, he was kicking himself for missing out on getting this over and done with a lot sooner, especially when he realised that he and Haley could have been together properly for a while now if all this shit had been dealt with sooner.

Haley grit her teeth together harder as she heard him laugh behind her, she could feel her hands begin to shake with rage. How he could think this was funny was just beyond her. She finally had enough when she heard him sigh and start laughing all over again. She turned around and pointed the bread knife at him. "You think this is fucking funny Nathan?" She roared at him.

Nathan rolled his eyes at her dramatic reaction but couldn't stop laughing at her. He unfolded his arms and leaned them on the counter behind him. "I actually think it's hilarious really. I should have come around here much sooner than I did, then maybe all this shit wouldn't be so fucked up." He returned to her, unable to stop laughing.

Haley was trying to remain angry at him but she couldn't stop her eyes from roaming around his perfect chest again. God he had such a fucking fantastic body. But she quickly shook her thoughts out of her head, mentally kicking herself for letting them run straight to the gutter just because he wasn't wearing a shirt and resumed her rant at him. "This is not funny Nathan, what the hell were you thinking?" She shouted at him.

Nathan shrugged his shoulders; he was too pleased with himself to argue with her. This was working like a fucking treat. He brought his hand up to rest on his chin and smirked at her as he saw her eyes wander all over his body again. He knew exactly what she was thinking about right now, and his plan was working absolutely perfectly so far.

Haley found herself mesmerised by the muscles in his arm as he raised it to rest on his face. How the hell did he get them all so big and so perfect? She wanted to run her hands along them, feel his powerful body underneath her touch. But then she realised what she was doing again and turned away from him quickly, biting down on her lip. Out of sight out of mind was what she was going with as she continued to make her sandwich. But now that she had seen his perfect body, she couldn't stop the thoughts of moving her hands all over his body from running through her head; she could practically feel her fingers tracing all of his magnificent muscles. _Fuck. _She couldn't take being around him for a second longer. She slammed the knife down on the counter and practically ran out of the kitchen, not before turning around to face him once more. "Will you put a fucking shirt on at least?" She snapped at him as she then turned around again, ran up the stairs and slammed the door to her room shut behind her.

Nathan continued to chuckle to himself as he walked over to the fridge, pulled out a beer and headed into the lounge, taking Haley's ham sandwich with him. He flopped down on the sofa as he took a sip of the beer and rested one of his arms behind his head. "I'm a fucking genius." He muttered happily to himself as he dug into the food she had left behind.

~*~

Nathan glanced at the clock and realised that it was now eight o'clock in the evening, and he hadn't heard a peep out of Haley since she had told him to put a shirt on and ran up to her bedroom earlier. He sighed as he pulled himself up off the sofa and headed into the kitchen. He figured that Haley must be starving by now, especially as she hadn't eaten that sandwich that she had started to make earlier on. He looked in the fridge and saw that there was enough food in there for him to make a meal for them both, so he started cooking, hoping that she would come out and eat something soon, he was starting to worry about her.

Haley was starving. Her stomach wouldn't shut up and she was cursing herself for not taking that sandwich with her when she had run away from Nathan earlier. She was lying down on her bed, willing herself to remain strong and not want food, but she knew that it was useless, and she couldn't hide up here forever anyway, she was going to have to face him sometime. She decided to give herself a little more time though, not wanting to face him just yet, but her stomach instantly protested by growling loudly at her. She sighed in frustration at herself as she got up from the bed and tentatively walked to her door. She hoped that Nathan had got bored and gone out somewhere so that she could eat something in peace, well, without him distracting her at least. She started to walk down the stairs and was shocked when she walked into the kitchen, finding Nathan standing by the stove mixing what looked like pasta in a saucepan. God he even managed to make stirring look sexy.

Nathan heard Haley walk in the kitchen and turned to look at her, making sure that his hand kept stirring the pasta with the wooden spoon. He smiled at her as she walked in, and was rewarded with a small smile from her too, which pleased him immensely, maybe she had calmed down a little from earlier on. He hoped so. "Hey. I was just about to come and get you. I made some pasta; I figured you might be hungry." He said to her as he watched her take a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"You didn't have to make me food Nathan." Haley responded quietly as she folded one of her legs over the other and watched him stir the pasta. She was so glad that he had made dinner, her stomach was rumbling like crazy. He still wasn't wearing a shirt though, which pissed her off a little, but she was surprised by his efforts in cooking her dinner so she decided to let it slide.

Nathan shrugged. "It's no big deal." He said as he took a deep breath as he watched her watching him. She really was just stunning. He could look at her all day and never get bored of her. But he wanted her to eat something so he tore his eyes away from her and looked back at the pasta, seeing that it was nearly ready, so he grabbed two wine glasses and a bottle of wine out of the fridge and poured the wine into the glasses, handing one to Haley and keeping one for himself.

"Thank you." Haley said quietly as she took a sip of the cool wine, which was helping to calm down her tinted cheeks slightly. She still couldn't get over how perfect he was, even though she had seen his chest plenty of times, it didn't stop her from wanting him.

"No problem." Nathan smiled at her as he turned the heat on the stove off and grabbed two plates, serving the pasta onto them and then joining Haley at the island, placing her plate in front of her and handing her a fork and a spoon as he sat down.

Haley looked down at the pasta and licked her lips; it looked and smelled absolutely delicious. She looked up at Nathan who appeared to just be watching her and she blushed under his intense gaze. She took the fork and spoon in her hands and dug into the food, her stomach was just about ready to shrivel up if it didn't get some food in it right this minute. She couldn't help the moan that came from her lips as she tasted his amazing creation. She had no idea that he could cook like this.

God that noise she had just made had shot straight to his cock. He closed his eyes for a brief second, clearing his mind of thought of just taking her right then and there and then opened them again, watching in satisfaction as Haley raced through the food like it was going to run off the plate if she didn't eat it quick enough. He smiled to himself as he started to eat his own plate of food at a much slower pace than Haley.

In record speed Haley had finished her dinner. She sat quietly and watched Nathan eat his food. She watched, completely mesmerised as his mouth closed around the fork, and almost lost it when his tongue would lick his lips, capturing the sauce that lingered there. She wanted to just bend over and lick it off his lips herself, but she knew she couldn't do that. She had said that she wanted a month break from their relationship, and licking food off his face would just get things all kinds of confused, mix signals was not what she wanted to be sending his way right now. So instead she occupied herself with sipping her wine, trying her best not to watch him eat, it was too much of a turn on and would only lead to very bad things happening. Bad things that she wanted to happen… _Fuck! _Why did he have this affect on her?

Nathan soon finished his food as well, and then cleared the plates away, placing them in the dishwasher. He could have sworn that he heard Haley moan to herself when he leant down to place them inside the machine, and he couldn't help the smirk appearing on his face yet again when he heard that noise come from her. He made his way back to the table and noticed that Haley's wine glass was almost empty, so he refilled hers as well as his own, before sitting himself back down next to her, turning to face her as he did so. "So did you enjoy that?" He asked, wanting to strike up some conversation with her.

Haley smiled over at him. "Yes, I had no idea you could cook like that Nathan, it was delicious." Haley answered him, before tearing her eyes away from him again before they managed to drop down to his chest, taking another sip of her wine and then placing it back on the counter top. She noticed that Nathan had just taken a sip of his wine and placed his glass back on the counter too, and her eyes moved over to his hands, which were wrapped around the wine glass. She couldn't stop staring at his fingers as he moved them slowly up to the top of the wine glass, and then started to circle them around the rim of the glass. She closed her eyes and all she could think about was the way his fingers expertly moved around her clit, teasing her, taunting her, leaving her begging for more. She could practically feel his fingers move down her wet folds and slowly enter her, imaging that he curled his fingers at the ends like he always did, making sure that he always hit her right where she wanted him. _Fuck. _She thought to herself. All he was doing was drinking wine and she was getting soaking fucking wet. She was so fucking screwed. She squeezed her legs together, trying to create some friction, but it was no use. So instead she gulped down the rest of her wine before excusing herself from the table and running up the stairs again.

Nathan laughed when Haley ran away from him again. It was all too easy. A couple more days of this and there would be no way that she would be able to resist him, which in turn would lead to her breaking up with the asshole boyfriend much sooner. For Nathan, that day couldn't come quick enough, he had to have her, and soon, it was killing him being this close to her and not being able to touch her, or kiss her. But he was trying to do as Carly had said to him earlier in Starbucks, he was trying to compromise with Haley, and this was the best that he could give her. If he couldn't touch her, well then he had to at least see her. He sighed as he gulped down the rest of the wine that was remaining in his glass and then headed on up the stairs, wanting to sleep as quickly as possible so that tomorrow would get here faster. Hopefully Haley would begin to crack even more.

Haley lay on her bed with her phone in her hands, scrolling frantically to Tom's number. She had to arrange a time to talk with him, she needed to end things with him quickly, for she knew that if Nathan kept up whatever game he was playing, well she'd be surprised if she would last another hour in his presence, and she didn't want to cave under the pressure, she just wanted things to be right between her and Nathan, and that couldn't happen until she had spoken to Tom and ended things. Once she reached his number, she hit the call button and waited for him to answer as she tapped her hand against her leg, begging for him to pick up.

Fucking voicemail. She sighed as she left a message, asking him to call her back when he got the message, and stated that it was very important that he called her back quickly, for she had some things she needed to discuss with him. That was a slight understatement to say the least. She was a little pissed off that he wasn't answering, as that only meant that she would have to wait even longer to put her guilty conscience to rest. She stripped her clothes off her body and got into bed, keeping her phone by her ear just in case he called her back, she really needed to talk to him, she was going to go crazy if he didn't call her back soon, Nathan was just too damn good at this game for her to even think of joining in with him.

~*~

Haley woke up the following morning and instantly checked her phone to see if she had any missed calls, but no such luck. She sighed as she got up and headed straight to the bathroom, pulling on her silk bathrobe and tying her hair up in a messy bun. She walked out of the room and headed downstairs, hearing Nathan and Carly talking in the kitchen. She prayed to God that he had put a damn shirt on this morning, as she really didn't think that she could control herself if she saw a half naked Nathan first thing in the morning. She continued walking down the stairs and then headed into the kitchen, finding herself completely mortified that Nathan was dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers. She groaned as she flopped into one of the stools at the island and grabbed the Lucky Charms from Carly, pouring them in the bowl, and then started to pick out all the marshmallows, leaving the box strategically placed in front of her face so that she wouldn't stare at Nathan's body the whole time. It was just embarrassing how much she wanted him; really, there was no other way to describe how pathetic she was being, especially as now that she had told herself that she couldn't have him, it only seemed to make her want him that much more. All she wanted to do was rip those boxers off his body, wrap her legs around his waist and beg for him to take her, even with Carly in the room, she didn't care, she wanted him that fucking badly, the whole world could watch if they fucking wanted to.

Nathan smirked as he looked over and saw that Haley was hiding behind the box of cereal. He caught Carly's eye and saw that she was also laughing at Haley. He decided to start talking to her anyway, despite how obvious it was that she just wanted to hide from him. "Sleep well Haley?" He asked her with a smug smile on his face.

"Fine." Haley answered as she continued to pick out all of the marshmallows from her bowl, refusing to meet his eyes, for who knows what the hell she would do if she did; either that or what fantasy would run through her mind if she looked at his body again. God, why was she acting like a teenager again? She realised that she needed to get away from him, so she hastily picked out ten or so marshmallows and then mumbled something about needing to go shopping and then headed back up the stairs.

Carly watched in amusement as Haley ran away and then she turned to face Nathan. "Nice work Nate." She said with a smile.

"Thank you Carly." Nathan responded as he picked out some of Haley's leftover cereal from her bowl and placed it in his mouth, munching happily on it as he mulled over how well the plan was working, surely it wouldn't be long now…

~*~

The following day at work was just a complete write off for Haley. Luckily, Lucas was avoiding her like the plague; no doubt he was worried about what she would say to him over the whole apartment situation and him lying to her about who owned it. So that meant that her unproductiveness was going unnoticed by her boss, which was a good thing to say the least because she had literally done nothing all day. But the truth was, she really couldn't bring herself to care about the fact that Lucas had lied to her, not when she had to just deal with Nathan being at the apartment in the first place. Controlling herself around him was taking up all of her concentration, even when she wasn't around him she was thinking of him, like right now, her mind was just filled with him, the way he looked with no shirt on, how sexy he had been cooking her dinner, his fingers running around the rim of that wine glass, her pushing him down on a bed, straddling him and then lowering herself down on him until he filled her completely. Every single thing she looked at turned into a potential Nathan sex fest. Like right now her mind had moved from the bed and she was imaging him leaning her over her desk and taking her from behind, much like how he had taken her on Friday night. God the way his hands had felt as he gripped her hips, controlling the way he moved in and out of her, was just fucking fantastic. There was no other word that she could use to describe it.

She had been turned on pretty much ever since Nathan had walked back down the stairs and 'introduced' himself to her, and she was still turned on right now. So that was pretty much three days that she had been turned on for, and she was getting sick of the fact that she couldn't do anything about it. She desperately needed some form of release, preferably it would be Nathan but she knew that she couldn't do that, not when she was trying to break up with Tom, who still hadn't called her back, and that was also adding to her frustrations.

She glanced down at the clock on her computer and saw that it was five o'clock. Lucas was going to be in a meeting until at least seven. She bit down on her lip as she debated with herself, wondering if she could really just leave early. She knew that she had to; she knew that she wasn't going to be able to last another night being around Nathan, especially if he refused to put a shirt on again. She had to find something to help her relieve all this sexual frustration that had been building inside of her since Saturday morning.

She quickly shut down her computer and put her coat on before she could change her mind. She'd work through her lunch tomorrow to make up the time then. As soon as she reached the incredibly busy Wall Street, she hailed a cab and asked the driver to drive her to the nearest shop she could think of, obviously asking him to drop her around the corner to where it was; she was far too embarrassed about all of this to ask him to drop her off right outside of the place.

Once the taxi driver had dropped her off, she quickly glanced around, checking that she didn't know anyone who was remotely close to where she was headed, and then ran inside. She had no idea what she was looking for, she just needed something, so when she got inside the shop, she was both horrified and excited at the number of vibrators the place held. She really had no idea there were so many different types and she couldn't help how wide her eyes were becoming as she looked at the rows upon rows that were displayed in the store.

"Can I help you?"

Haley spun around and found herself blushing ferociously at the saleswoman who had just come up to her. She turned around and quickly grabbed the nearest one to her, it would do the trick, hopefully, and then turned back to face the saleswoman, waving the vibrator around in the air. "I'd like this please." Haley muttered as she quickly made her way over to the checkout to pay for her toy. She was so embarrassed about buying something like this, that as soon as she had paid for it, she quickly placed it in her handbag, thrilled with herself that she had bought her large handbag with her today, for there was no way she was walking around Manhattan with a 'Pleasure For You' bag on display for all to see. She then hailed another cab and headed back home, hoping that she would have some time to relieve herself before Nathan decided to make an appearance, maybe that way she would be calmer around him once he did come home, she hoped so anyway. If this didn't work then she didn't know what the hell she was going to do, moving out was going to be the only option left to her.

~*~

Nathan had just returned back to the apartment with a wide grin on his face, ready for his new and improved plan to be put into action. Given how easy it had been for him to get Haley all worked up over the weekend, he was going to push it a little bit further and see what kind of reaction he got from her, and he prayed to God that it would push her to end things with her boyfriend much quicker than she had originally planned, he desperately needed to be with her, patience wasn't something he was used to exercising, and the sooner she broke up with the boyfriend, then the less time she had to change her mind about anything between them. He wandered around downstairs, looking for Haley; he had presumed that she would have beaten him home, especially since he knew that she had left work before he had, since when he called her twenty minutes ago, she hadn't picked up and someone else informed him that she had left for the evening, but she didn't seem to be at the apartment. He shrugged as he made his way up the stairs after having searched all of the downstairs of the apartment, and saw that her bedroom door was wide open, and she wasn't inside of her room. Again he shrugged, continuing to walk along the corridor to his room, where he opened the door to his room and then closed it behind him, all the while wondering where she could be if she wasn't at home. He walked into his closet and pulled out one of his sleeveless t-shirts and a pair of shorts, stripped his suit off his body and changed into the shorts. He placed his suit on the chair in his bedroom, and carried the t-shirt with him, when he heard his mobile phone vibrate from the pocket of his suit trousers. He pulled out the phone, and saw that he had a couple of voicemails, so he sat down on the edge of his bed and listened to the various messages that his clients had left on his phone.

Haley wandered into the apartment with her newly purchased toy wrapped up securely in her large handbag. She really couldn't believe that she had even walked into that shop, let alone bought something from there, but she knew that if she was going to survive these next couple of weeks, she needed some way of relieving herself from all the sexual tension that Nathan seemed to just throw out by the damn bucket load. He really was just too damn sexy for her to even be able to begin to think about anything non-sexual when she was around him, especially when he chose to walk around the apartment shirtless all of the fucking time. She looked around the apartment and saw that she seemed to have it to herself, which pleased her immensely as that meant that she could start experimenting. She walked into the kitchen and pulled out some scissors and cut the plastic off her new vibrator. She then placed the scissors back into the drawer and walked up the stairs, noticing that Nathan's bedroom door was shut as she walked into her room, which was good since that was just the way he had left it this morning when he had left for work.

She decided to leave the door to her bedroom open so that she could hear him if he walked into the apartment, saving her a lot of embarrassment. She didn't even want to think about how smug he would be if he knew what she was doing. But then that thought reminded her of that damn sexy grin of his, and she could already feel herself getting turned on again as the fantasies that had been filling her head all day came right back to the forefront of her mind. She quickly stripped her dress off her body, grabbed the vibrator from her handbag and then lay back on her bed, leaving the vibrator to the side of her body for when she was ready to start using it.

She closed her eyes and took a few breaths, allowing the fantasies to roll through her mind. She then tentatively took one hand and ran it down the left hand side of her body, until she got to the waistband of the panties that she still hand on, and then bought her hand around to her stomach and then lightly trailed it up the middle of her chest, until she got to her bra. She imagined that it was Nathan's hand running over the top curve of her breast, she licked her lips as she brought her fingers closer to the edge of her bra, before slipping her hand inside, lightly grazing her hand over her nipple, causing it to harden slightly, and she bit down on her lip as she continued to imagine that it was Nathan's hand palming her breast. She then took her hand out of her bra and lifted her back off the bed so that she could unclasp her bra, and once it was undone she threw it in the direction of the door, hearing it hit the floor. She then lay back down on the bed and took another deep breath as she started to move her hands over her now bare breasts, pinching her nipples in between her thumb and forefinger like Nathan usually did, all the while imagining that it was his hands that were on her body. She couldn't help the quiet moan that escaped from her lips when she reminded herself of just how good his hands felt on her body.

After five minutes, Nathan stood up from his bed and started stretching, getting ready to go out for his run, after hanging his phone up and placing it on the bedside table. He opened his door and again shut it behind him, and then made his way over to the stairs, passing Haley's room as he went, a smug smile planted right across his face as he thought through his master plan once more, Haley really didn't stand a fucking chance, not if this weekend had been any indication of how easy it was going to be to get her worked up and wanting him. He was actually more than certain that she wanted him badly; especially given the way that her eyes had been lingering on his chest all weekend, he was so sure that she had been thinking about him. As he walked past her room, he could have sworn that he saw something in his peripheral vision so he back stepped twice and stood right outside of her door as he looked inside her room. His mouth then dropped open as wide as it could possibly get at the vision that was laid out in front of him. He could not believe what she was doing. His breathing quickened and he clenched the t-shirt he was still holding. So much for the fucking plan, it had just flown right out of the nearest window.

Haley was fucking lying on her bed, with nothing but her panties on and she was touching her breasts. He was in fucking heaven. He leaned against the door, and crossed his arms over his chest, instantly getting hard as he watched her pinch her nipples in between her thumb and forefinger, rolling them around just like he did when he played with them. God this was the sexiest thing he had ever fucking seen. He was completely mesmerised by her, and he couldn't move, not that he wanted to anyway, this was just so damn hot.

Haley continued to play with her nipples, but released one of her hands after a while and lightly ran her fingertips down the front of her stomach until she reached the waistband of her panties, and slipped her hand inside, finding her clit, and then she started to run her finger around it, teasing herself. She moaned when she lightly grazed her middle finger right over her clit, imaging that Nathan was teasing her like he always did, he always worked her up like this, and it felt so good.

Fuck, now she was making noises and her hand was inside of her panties. It took all the strength in the world for Nathan to keep from ripping his shorts from his body and start playing with himself as he watched her, either that or run over to Haley, rip those panties off her and give her what she really wanted, which was him obviously, or at least he thought it was him that she wanted, he hoped that she was thinking about him...

Haley continued to play with her clit but soon wanted more, she could feel how wet she was becoming and so she removed her hand from her panties and then slowly slipped her panties down her legs, bringing her legs up in the air so that she wouldn't have to get up from where she was lying down. Once she had removed her panties, she threw them in the same direction as she had her bra and then settled her legs in a wide stance on the bed with her knees in the air.

Nathan watched as she flung her panties in the air, watching as they landed pretty much at his feet. He glanced down at them quickly, for he really didn't want to take his eyes off Haley for more than any great length of time, but when he looked down at her panties, he saw that they were literally soaking wet, and the urge to pick them up off the floor was so fucking strong, he wanted to feel how wet she was, but somehow he managed to resist, and tore his eyes away from the white lace panties lying on the floor and concentrated on what Haley was doing, only now her legs were partially blocking his view, so he quietly moved further into the room so that he could get a better view of whatever she was going to do next, which he had no doubt would be sexy as hell.

Haley moved one of her hands back down her stomach and started to move her middle finger into her soaking wet folds until she found her entrance, and circled it a few times, before slipping two fingers inside of herself, feeling how wet she really was as they glided into her easily. "Mmm, Nathan..." She moaned out loud as she imaged that it was his fingers that had just moved inside of her.

Holy fuck. She had just moaned his name. He was grinning like a fucking horny teenager. Hell he was hard as one that was for sure. He felt the complete rush of euphoria run through him as he realised that she was fantasising about him; she missed him, she wanted him, she was imaging it was his fingers that were moving into her fucking fantastic pussy, it was hot as hell. Haley had just pulled two of her fingers back out of herself and now she was slowly moving them in and out of her at what had to be the most torturous pace ever known to man. He was having trouble keeping himself against the wall, and also he was having trouble keeping quiet himself, he wanted to tell her to move her fingers faster, he wanted to see her come hard and fast.

Haley continued to moan as she gradually increased the pace of her fingers, but she knew that she needed to experiment with the vibrator, she was so turned on right now, and she wanted to see what it would feel like. So she grabbed the vibrator from the side of the bed and turned around slightly so that she could see what she was doing.

Nathan watched in confusion as Haley turned her body away from where he was standing. She couldn't stop now; surely, she hadn't even had an orgasm. Hell if she was stopping then there would be no stopping him; he would walk right over there and give her exactly what he thought she needed. But then he literally felt his heart stop when he heard the buzzing noise coming from where she was laying. Hell no. He was going to literally die on the spot if she was going to start fucking herself with a vibrator. She had to be trying to kill him, seriously.

Haley switched the vibrator onto the lowest setting and licked her lips nervously. She had no idea what this was going to feel like, but she hoped that it would feel good and help her relieve some of the frustration she had been feeling ever since Nathan had announced that he was moving in with her. She then rolled back onto her back and widened her legs as she ran the vibrator slowly down her stomach, allowing herself to get used to the sensation it was producing. She then moved it around her clit and gasped when she felt the vibrations move right through her, this shit felt fucking good. She continued to move the vibrator down through her folds until she found her entrance and slowly pushed the vibrator inside, unable to keep quiet when she moved it all the way inside of her, it felt amazing and she couldn't control the noises that were falling from her lips, she didn't have a clue what she was saying either, all she could concentrate on was the feeling that these vibrations were creating in her body.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck. _What the hell was she doing to him? He was painfully hard and desperately needed some sort of fucking release, but he knew that once he started, he wouldn't be able to shut the hell up, and he wanted to enjoy what Haley was doing to herself more than anything, he wanted to savour this moment for all of eternity, he wanted to hear her not himself, he would just have to be fucking patient and wait, however hard that was going to be for him to do right now. He wanted to moan right along with her when she put that fucking thing inside of her, and the way her back had arched up off the bed was fucking sexy as hell. Watching Haley pleasure herself was almost as fucking good as him doing it to her, almost but not quite.

Oh God. Haley started to move the vibrator in and out of her and she could feel it hitting all the right spots, so she decided to increase the pace of her hand a little, as well as cranking the vibrator up a notch, imaging that Nathan was driving into her with that fantastic cock of his. "Shit." She moaned to herself as the vibrations got stronger. Whoever fucking invented this thing deserved a fucking medal, because all she could feel right now was pleasure. Nothing else. Pure, unadulterated pleasure. She increased the pace yet again and couldn't help moaning out his name again, for apart from the pleasure consuming her mind, he was also on her brain and she desperately wanted it to be him who was driving into her like this, she craved his touch, craved his kisses, craved that magnificent cock of his. "Nathan...."

Holy fucking shit. If she said his name like that one more time, he was just going to lose it and march right over there, there would be no fucking hesitation from him, not a fucking second of it. She was calling to him right, she wanted him to help her, why the hell else would she be moaning his name like that? He watched, completely mesmerised by the way the vibrator was moving in and out of her, he could already see that the vibrator was covered in her juices and he found that he was literally aching to be inside of her, he wanted those juices coating his cock instead of some fucking piece of plastic or whatever the hell her vibrator was made out of. He was fucking jealous of the vibrator, jealous of the fact that it should be his cock thrusting into her, not that thing.

But then he heard her moan again, and when something as simple as that was making Haley moan out like she was doing, well he was actually fucking grateful to the thing. Because, Christ, he had never in his whole fucking life ever witnessed anything as fucking erotic as this.

Fuck this thing was good. Haley continued to move it in and out of her, increasing the pace slightly. She was still imagining that it was Nathan's cock thrusting into her, she wanted him desperately. She moved her hands down her stomach, imagining that it was his fingers ghosting over her skin. "Nathan..." She moaned again.

That fucking did it. He couldn't take it anymore; he had to be a part of this fucking sexiness somehow. He walked over to where she was laying on the bed and kneeled down in front of her. He felt her shift slightly as she must have noticed the weight change on the bed, but before she could do anything, he covered her hand with his and started to move the vibrator in and out of her at his preferred pace, which was hard and fast. He couldn't take his eyes off the way the vibrator moved in and out of her, it was the hottest thing he had ever seen.

Haley opened her eyes as she felt the weight shift on the bed, and suddenly all she could think was just _fuck! _She looked down between her legs and saw Nathan kneeling down next to her, and she knew that she flushed the deepest shade of red ever possible. She had no idea what the hell he was doing home, or how she hadn't heard him come in the apartment, but none of that mattered right now, she was just embarrassed as hell that he had caught her like this. She felt his hand close around the vibrator which was currently still vibrating inside of her and she quickly moved her hand away, getting herself ready to jump right off the bed and start shouting at him for invading her privacy. But then she felt Nathan start to literally fuck her senseless with it and any embarrassment she had been feeling was quickly replaced with the feeling of her impending orgasm building up from deep within her.

"Fuck Hales, this is so fucking sexy." Nathan muttered as he continued to drive the vibrator inside of her. He watched as her back arched off the bed, allowing him to push it deeper inside of her. He desperately needed to find some friction for his cock but he couldn't bring himself to shift positions, not when she was this close to coming, her pleasure was far more important than his right now.

"God Nathan, faster..." Haley moaned. She never wanted this to stop; it felt too fucking good to ever stop. She felt the pace of the vibrator increase yet again as he continued to thrust it in and out of her, and then she felt his thumb land on her clit, rubbing it hard and in time with the thrusts of the vibrator moving in and out of her. "Shit." She cried out as she felt that coil inside of her begin to tighten. She raised her hips right off the bed, feeling Nathan push her back down to the mattress as he increased the pressure on her clit and before she knew what was happening, she felt the strongest orgasm of her life hit her.

Nathan continued to move the vibrator inside of her as she came; hearing her scream out his name, and it was literally the sexiest fucking thing he had ever seen. She arched her back right off the bed and he could literally see her body shudder with the force of her climax. He slowed the movements of the vibrator and his thumb on her clit, slowly bringing her back down from her high, all the while keeping his eyes on her whole body. She was fucking beautiful.

Haley opened her eyes but she couldn't see straight, so she closed them again, and tried desperately hard to concentrate on the rhythm of her breathing, trying to bring it back down to a more normal pace. She gasped when she felt Nathan pull the vibrator from inside of her and then listened as he turned it off.

Nathan needed to go and relieve himself very quickly. That was the hottest fucking thing he had ever experienced in his life. He couldn't help the smile that spread over his face as he replayed the way she had moaned out his name and he couldn't help himself as he leaned down to place a kiss on the inside of her thigh. "I knew you were thinking about me Haley." He muttered against her skin as he placed another kiss on her thigh, before lifting himself off the bed and heading out of her bedroom, practically shoving his shorts down his body before he had even entered his room.

Haley lifted herself off the bed and then scrambled to find her bag. She had to get through to Tom to arrange to meet him; she couldn't deal with this situation any more. She dialled his number and moaned when she heard it ring through to his voicemail again. She groaned in frustration and threw herself back down on the bed, knowing that if she had to wait another week to see Tom she was going to go absolutely crazy. She couldn't believe that Nathan had caught her like that; no doubt he was going to use what he had just seen and partaken in to his full advantage until she finished things with Tom, who wasn't even calling her back. She ran a hand through her hair as her head spun at a million miles per hour. God she was so screwed.

**AN - So there we have it, some of you were correct in your theories! I hope you all enjoyed that chapter, and let me know what you thought of it by leaving me a review.**

**I wonder why Tom isn't picking up his phone? Hmmm...**

**Again, a sneak peek will be offered to those of you who want it, just let me know by leaving me a review. Thanks guys! I hope to be updating soon! **

**By the way, do some of you want some office sex in this story?!**

**Don't forget to check out High Heels and Blushes if you haven't already! x**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN – Hey! WOW. I am still so totally overwhelmed and absolutely gobsmacked at the response this story has gotten, seriously each time I get an e-mail through saying that someone has reviewed/favourite/signed up for an alert I grin like the village idiot! So thank you all for making me extremely happy! **

**The general consensus about the office sex was a resounding yes (not that I really thought it was going to be a no!) so I will see what I can do, it will happen in later chapters in this fic, if it does. Okay, I'm teasing you now, it will happen, but later on. How's that?! But if you need a fill of some Nathan and Haley office sex right now, then I wrote another one shot called 'Overtime', so go and check it out once you have read this update! **

**You all know by now, I think, that I am going on holiday on Friday for a week. I do plan on doing a little writing while I'm catching a few rays, on what though, I'm not sure yet. Maybe working on this story or Kiss the Rain, maybe working on a sequel to High Heels and Blushes, or working on a story idea I have for Overtime... I also have yet another long fic idea that has been kicking around in my head for a while and it hasn't been quashed yet so I think it wants to be written, but we'll see... I may be too intoxicated to do anything!**

**As always, many thanks to those of you without fanfic accounts that reviewed, and keep leaving the comments, I love reading them. I just wanted to say a couple of words of thanks to each of you. **Annonymous – **thanks so much for leaving the review, I'm pleased you like the story and thanks for saying I'm good at writing the smut ;o)** Becca – **Thanks for the review, lol and yes it would be rather interesting if Lucas ever caught Nathan and Haley like that! **Rice – **Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the ending of the last chapter, and yes Tom does need to answer his phone soon! **Mel – **Thanks for the review and I'm glad you liked the chapter and I'm also so pleased you are enjoying the other stories I write too! **Naley17 – **Thanks so much for the reviews you left for the various chapters, I'm glad you like the way Nathan is in this story! And Nathan will be finding out about Haley being engaged eventually, so keep reading. **Weens – **Thanks for leaving the review and, wow, I cannot believe you managed to read this in one day! I'm glad you don't mind my ramblings! And I'm so pleased you are enjoying the story. **Rachael – **Thanks for leaving the review, I'm glad you find my story different to the others out there! All will be revealed with Tom soon, so keep reading! **Tracy – **Thank you for leaving the review, I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you like this one too!**

**And many thanks go to Rebecca, who read through this for me before I posted it.**

**Alright, on with the story... is Haley going to manage to get hold of Tom soon..? What will happen if she does..? **

**Oh and the beginning of this chapter is for those of you that asked for it, you know who you are ;o) ... and I hope I delivered... and with that said, I promise I'm shutting up right now!**

**Chapter Fifteen**

Nathan ran along the corridor from Haley's room and opened the door to his bedroom as quickly as possible, needing to get inside his room right this instant. He had his shorts and boxers half way down his legs and he waddled like a penguin the rest of the way inside as he slammed the door shut behind him. He leaned against the wall beside the door and grabbed his rock hard cock with his hand and started pumping, unable to help the rough groan that escaped from his mouth as he closed his eyes, and threw his head back against the wall, letting out a long sigh of contentment at finally able to bring some relief to himself. How he had managed to hold on for that long was beyond him, clearly when he put his mind to it, he had the patience of a Saint, who knew? He brought himself right back to that moment when he had caught Haley, ready to relive entirely what he had just witnessed in his mind, not wanting to miss even the smallest detail out. He had never in his whole entire existence ever witnessed anything as sexy and erotic as watching Haley fuck herself like that. And fucking her with that vibrator had just been hot beyond words. Granted, it was not as good as actually fucking her with his cock, because nothing compared to that, but still, he would take whatever the hell he could get from her right now, and he certainly wasn't complaining about the fact he had been able to share that with her, not one bit.

He continued to move his hand quickly up and down his shaft, wanting to release all the sexual energy that he had been fighting ever since he had started watching Haley play with her nipples. She had amazing nipples, he knew how sensitive they were for her, and he just loved playing with them, rolling them around in between his fingers, lapping at them with his tongue, tugging at them with his teeth. He drew in a sharp breath and he felt his cock twitch in his hands as he thought about touching her again, forget foreplay, he was far too turned on right now, in his mind he had just entered her tight, hot, wet pussy and he was driving in and out of her at a ferocious pace, fuck that felt good.

Haley was still lying on the bed, her body feeling completely on fire, even though Nathan had left the room minutes ago. Yes she was embarrassed that Nathan had caught her like that, yes she was going to be incredibly pissed off at him if he, no, when he, decided to use it against her and yes she had just wanted the bed to swallow her whole when she realised that someone else had joined her on the bed, knowing that it was Nathan, knowing that she had been caught. But fuck if that wasn't one of the sexiest things she had ever participated in, she didn't know what was. She groaned as she rolled over on her side, and all she could think about was how turned on she still was. One orgasm just wasn't enough for her at the moment, and although it had been Nathan that got her there, she had been craving him, wanting it to be him that was driving into her like that, not some vibrating toy that she had purchased. God she really was some kind of sex animal or something, how the hell could she, after having an orgasm like the one she had just had, be craving more? She groaned in frustration at her stupid self and pounded one of her fists into the mattress, hoping to relieve herself of some of the tension that was still bubbling away inside of her. She tried to think of Tom, and move her frustrations onto him, especially given that he wasn't even answering her phone calls, but after stewing over that thought for all of one second, her brain had moved back to thoughts of Nathan once again, needing him, wanting him.

_Fuck it. _She thought to herself as she lifted herself up off the bed and walked down the corridor to his room. She knew that Nathan was going to be teasing her about what he had caught her doing endlessly anyway, so what the hell would it matter if she added even more fuel to the fire, she might as well take it all in one hit. Besides, he would only find her like that again tomorrow if she didn't go and get what she wanted, which would mean that she would be on the receiving end of even more taunting from him for an even longer period of time. It was better this way. She wouldn't feel so damn frustrated if she just had him inside of her, once was all she needed, just to bat this craving for him right out of her body until things had all been sorted out properly.

Nathan heard his breathing increase in pace as in his mind he brought his thumb down onto that delicious clit of hers again, rubbing it around quickly, matching the pace of his thrusts. God he needed to be inside of her, he didn't think that he would be able to not be inside of her for much longer, especially if he caught her pleasuring herself again, he knew that he wouldn't have the self-restraint to resist her a second time. He had been trying to reach that stupid compromise that Carly had chatted about, but he couldn't help how drawn he was to her, how desperately he needed her. And it wasn't just about the sex, that wasn't all that he missed, he simply missed her, being around her like he used to. He was still pumping his cock into his hand, when he heard the door to his bedroom open, and he quickly snapped his head to the left and opened his eyes.

Haley had just walked into Nathan's bedroom and nearly jumped out of her skin when she looked to the right and saw his dangerous dark blue eyes staring at her right in the face. She felt herself instantly flush red, for she knew what that colour of his eyes meant, but then her eyes started to drift down his body and she realised that he was standing against his wall with his shorts and boxers around his knees, and his right hand was wrapped around that magnificent cock of his. She couldn't help the sharp gasp of air that she took once her brain had processed that piece of information, she couldn't take her eyes off his cock now that she realised what he was doing to himself.

Nathan held completely still as he watched Haley stare at him. He didn't know what the hell to do. He didn't know if he should continue with her watching him, stop and act like he was doing nothing, or stop, throw her out of his room and then continue. His breathing was still incredibly erratic, and he still, after about a minute of debating with himself, hadn't come up with any clue as to what the hell he should do about this predicament that he now found himself in. He wasn't embarrassed, not one bit, and he had no problem with Haley being in the room with him while he relieved himself, but he didn't want to make her any more uncomfortable than she already was, given that he had caught her in what could only be described as an incredibly compromising position just moments ago. He continued his internal debate and quickly realised that his hand was wrapped around his cock for crying out loud, pretending he was doing nothing was just completely insane, so now he was stuck with continuing, which he desperately needed to do, or stopping for a second to chuck her out of his room and then continue. What the hell to do?

Haley could already feel her breathing increase in pace at the anticipation of knowing what he was doing, which was silly as he hadn't even moved his hand yet. It was still wrapped firmly around his cock, the very cock that she so desperately wanted inside of her, but if he was going to give her a show, then she would wait, patiently. She knew that there was no way she could just turn around and walk out of that door now, not when she was anxiously awaiting his next move, not when she wanted to see how he did that to himself. She managed to tear her eyes away from his cock for a second and lifted her eyes up to his face and she could see the debate that he was having with himself behind his eyes, and so she decided to make his decision easy for him. She walked further into his room and placed herself on the bed, making sure that she was facing him directly, and she crossed her arms over her chest as she raised her eyebrow at him, silently encouraging him to continue. She most certainly wanted to see this, especially after he got to watch her earlier. Fair's fair, after all.

Holy shit, she was sitting down on his bed with that sexy eyebrow of hers raised up at him. He realised that his mind had been made up for him by her, and so continue it was. He slowly allowed his eyes to wander up her still naked body, and almost sighed at how perfect she was, allowing his eyes to wander over each spectacular inch of her skin until his eyes eventually lifted to her face, and he watched that seductive tongue of hers slowly lick her sensational lips, and right then, that's when he started to pump his cock into his hand again, imagining that her tongue was licking its way around it. He let out a groan as soon as he moved his hand up his shaft, slowly getting himself used to the feel of it again after he had stopped when Haley had walked into the room. He threw his head back against the wall again and concentrated on the pair of incredible eyes he could feel watching him, before he realised that he needed to see her, so he forced his head up and opened his eyes, focussing on nothing but Haley. And the only thought that entered his mind was the fact that he so very desperately needed to be inside of her.

Haley couldn't keep her eyes off it, the way it was moving in between his hands, the low, guttural grunts that he was making, which eventually turned into her name dripping off his sexy lips. As she heard him repeat her name again and again, she quickly glanced up to that glorious mouth of his and watched him lick his lips, before his mouth dropped open a little, and his eyes were trained right on her, the pure desire and need for her pouring right out of him. That's when she completely lost all control. She needed him, to hell with Tom and her fucking break she so stupidly requested, to hell with doing what she thought was the right thing. When you wanted someone this much, wasn't it right to just throw caution to the wind and just do what you fucking wanted, instead of doing what was morally correct? She certainly thought so. Before she had time to berate herself for what she was thinking, she was on her feet, striding towards him, determined to get what she wanted, what she needed, instead of playing by the correct moral rules that she had installed within herself.

Nathan's eyes still hadn't left hers, but as he watched her rise to her feet, he grew confused. Why the hell was she standing up? But as she strode towards him, as he looked into her eyes, which showed nothing but pure want for him, he got it, and he nearly broke into the happy dance right there and then. Haley wanted him, properly, no vibrators, or hands or whatever the hell else you could use, she wanted him, now. And he was going to make damn sure she got what she wanted. He pushed himself off the wall and walked towards her, releasing his cock from his hands and tearing his boxers and shorts off his legs as he did so, leaving them behind him. Once he had walked to two large strides he needed to, he found himself in front of her and before he knew it, he felt his lips descend on hers and his arms wrapped around her, pulling her towards him. God, how he had missed this.

Haley moaned as soon as his mouth connected with hers. She wrapped her hands around his neck and pushed his mouth more heavily onto hers, needing him to be closer, needing to feel everything. She opened her mouth as soon as she felt his start to move, feeling his tongue slide into her mouth and touch hers. He kissed her hungrily as his hands pulled her body into his and she could feel his hard length in between their naked bodies, pressing into her stomach and she moaned into his mouth, not ever believing it possible that she could crave somebody as much as she craved him, but she soon realised that it was possible, and it was happening.

As soon as Nathan heard her moaning into his mouth, he walked Haley back towards his bed that she had just left, wrapped his arm tightly around her waist and picked her up off the floor before he lowered her onto the bed, crawling on top of her as he did so, his lips never leaving hers. The pace of their kiss was still fast and furious, but Nathan wanted to savour this, he didn't want this to be over in a matter of seconds, he wanted to show Haley exactly what she would be missing out on if she left him for good, he needed to make her to realise that her whole break idea was just plain ridiculous. So he slowed his mouth down, eventually placing three small kisses on her lips before lifting his face up from where he was laying on top of her and opened his eyes, finding her beautiful brown ones looking right at him.

Haley looked right into his deep blue eyes and sighed to herself when she felt his hand reach up and brush away some of her hair from her face, and she then watched as he leaned down and placed a lingering kiss on the tip of her nose. She closed her eyes for a brief second, wondering once more how she had managed to find someone so perfect for her. She always felt comfortable and safe around Nathan, how she thought that she could be apart from him for longer than a couple of days was just beyond her, she had obviously been talking absolute shit and not thinking straight when that stupid idea crept out of her mouth.

Nathan pulled his mouth away from her nose and placed another kiss on her cheekbone, before lifting himself back off her, putting his weight on his elbows which lay beside her shoulders, and he started to stroke her cheek with his thumb as his hand cupped her face. And as he looked into her eyes, every fear that he had been desperately trying to keep under control resurfaced as he realised just how much she meant to him. He would absolutely fall to pieces if she ever decided to leave him. He could not live without her, and everything he had been doing since he moved back into the apartment with her, walking around shirtless, trying to get her to want him, was pointless unless she told him that this break was over. He just couldn't quash that fear sitting at the back of his mind that she was going to walk out on him, and he needed to, he had to get rid of it for he couldn't live in this state of limbo for a second longer. "Haley…" He sighed.

Haley knew exactly what he was doing, as she looked into his eyes she could see the trepidation that was residing inside of him and she desperately wanted to take all the anguish away from him. She knew, in that second, that she had to get a hold of Tom, regardless of the fact that he appeared to be ignoring her. She was giving him until tomorrow lunch time to call her back, and if he hadn't, then she was going to march right over to his office and drag him outside to finish this once and for all. Maybe if she did this on her terms, maybe if she did it her way, then he wouldn't be able to throw an engagement party or a bunch of flowers or his stupid, hollow pleas at her, and then finally, the farce that was their relationship would be over and she could begin to move things forward with Nathan. She reached her hand up to his face and started to stroke his cheek, and she watched as he closed his eyes and leaned into her palm, a small sigh escaping from his lips. "Nathan, listen to me." Haley said as she tried to get him to open his eyes and look at her; only he wasn't cooperating with her. "Nathan please open your eyes and look at me, I want to tell you something important." Haley pleaded with him.

Nathan slowly opened his eyes and turned his head back so he was looking at Haley directly, unsure if he wanted to hear what she was going to say to him next.

Haley smiled at Nathan once he had opened his eyes and he threw a small smile back at her, as she continued to run her fingers along the sides of his face, eventually moving both of her hands into his hair. She loved feeling him lying on top of her like this, it just felt right, and she couldn't help smiling a little more at that thought, at how right she knew that he was for her. "Nathan, I'm going to talk to my boyfriend tomorrow lunchtime, I've been trying to call him but he hasn't been picking up his phone. I've left him messages to call me back and he hasn't returned them, so I'm going to go and see him tomorrow and end things with him. As soon as I get home from work tomorrow, I'll be yours, I can't go on like this; I want to be with you…" Haley started, but found that she was interrupted by Nathan.

"Haley, I want to believe what you're saying, but last time this happened, last time you told me you wanted to be with me, you ended up telling me that you want to be apart from me for a month." Nathan responded and then tried to roll off Haley's body, wanting some space to be put between them. He hated talking about things like this.

Haley could feel him trying to move away from her, but she wasn't having that, she had to make him realise that she meant what she was saying. She had to make him see that she wasn't going to let anything get in the way of being with him, not this time, so she lifted up her leg to stop him moving off her and held his head firmly between her hands. "Nathan don't try to move away from me, please." Haley pleaded with him and then waited for him to settle back down on top of her, waiting until he was looking at her again. She absolutely hated the way that he was looking at her, she hated the way that he didn't trust what she was saying, especially given how determined she was to finish things with Tom this time, she had to make him see that she wanted him and only him. "You mean so much to me Nathan, nothing I've ever experienced has been this intense and wonderful and I cannot begin to even form into words how I feel about you." Haley said softly but her voice was full of strength and honesty as she continued to move her hands in his hair. "I hate the fact that I feel as if I have been stringing you along, I honestly do, but you have to believe me when I say that this time, I will be ending things with him. It's you that I want. I love you." Haley said as she lifted up her head and placed a lingering kiss on his lips. "I love you." She whispered as she lowered her head back to the bed.

Nathan continued to look at her, and he wanted to believe her, he really did, but he still couldn't shake the doubt from inside of him, the fear that he could lose her was still clinging to every fibre of his being. "Haley what if you change your mind, what if he manages to change your mind about being with me." Nathan said extremely quietly as he closed his eyes, still not being one hundred percent comfortable with sharing his deepest and darkest fears with the very person who had the power to break him completely.

Haley's brow furrowed as she continued to move her hands in his hair, really not liking the fact that he still didn't believe how she truly felt about him. "Nathan nothing is going to be able to keep me from you. Nothing. I haven't ever felt as strongly for someone as I do you, I haven't ever felt even half of what I'm feeling for you right now Nathan. My heart is with you, always, and nothing he says or does can keep me from you. Okay? You have to believe me." Haley returned, hoping that he knew that what she was saying to him was coming right from the bottom of her heart, a heart that was his and his alone. "You're everything to me." She said as once more she lifted her head to his and placed a firmer kiss on his lips, before pulling away slightly and whispering against his lips. "I'm yours." And then she placed another kiss on his lips, and she started to feel his lips move with hers slightly. "I love you."

Nathan could feel that weight that he had hanging over his shoulders lighten a little as he listened to her words, she spoke with such determination and conviction, it was hard for him not to believe what she was telling him. He felt her lips touch his again as she whispered her feelings to him, and he lightly kissed her back once she told him that she was his. And once she whispered that she loved him, he pulled back and looked right into her eyes, and he could see it. He could feel it. Nothing was going to get in the way of them being together and instantly he felt a thousand times better than he had two seconds ago, especially as she had said that she was going to finish things with her boyfriend tomorrow, that was all that he wanted, to be one hundred percent hers and hers alone. "I love you too." He replied as he brought his mouth down to connect once more with hers, showing her that he believed what she was saying to him with that kiss, letting his tongue move into her mouth as she opened hers up to him, kissing her softly, sensually, taking his time and showing her that he belonged to her.

Haley could feel the difference in this kiss, it was different to the frenzied kiss they had shared before they had started talking, when Nathan had first moved them both over to the bed, it was more intense, more passionate. She could feel his lips moving slowly and rhythmically against hers; she could feel his large hands running up and down the sides of her body over her skin, and she knew in that moment that he got it. She knew that he realised that she wasn't going anywhere. All she needed to do was talk to Tom tomorrow, end things with him, and then everything would be absolutely perfect between her and Nathan. He wouldn't have to carry this huge weight around with him anymore, worrying constantly about whether she really wanted him or not, because she would be his. She kissed him back just as intently, letting him know that she was completely and utterly his, no one else had a hold on her heart, it belonged to him. She felt his tongue run tentatively along her upper lip as both their mouths moved together and she opened her mouth up to him, letting him enter her mouth. She felt his tongue brush up against hers softly and heard him groan into her mouth at the sensation.

Nathan could feel Haley's hands roaming over the muscles of his back, her fingers tracing the contours of his skin, pushing him down closer to her body. He really needed to take a breath but he couldn't tear his mouth away from Haley's, who the hell needs air when you have the most beautiful woman in the world laying underneath you, declaring her love for you, telling you that she was belonged to you? Surely that alone was enough for his body to survive on, it certainly felt like it. But eventually his body rebelled against him and he realised that he really did need to breathe otherwise it was highly likely that he would suffocate both himself and Haley, and he really didn't want to do that. So with much reluctance he pulled his mouth away from Haley's and rested his forehead against hers, panting with each deep breath that he took, closing his eyes and just enjoying the feel of her body underneath him, revelling in the knowledge that tomorrow, everything would be just right, his life would be complete at last, for having Haley to himself was everything to him.

Haley's breaths were just as fast and frantic as Nathan's were. She leaned her head up against his and also closed her own eyes, smiling to herself in the knowledge that at the latest, from tomorrow lunchtime, she would be Nathan's and the whole world would be put to right, because that was where she belonged, Nathan was who she was supposed to be with, no one else, and she meant what she had said, nothing was going to get in the way of that this time, she wouldn't let it, it couldn't. She opened up her eyes and continued to smile up at his perfect face, staring at his long eye lashes which were currently casting shadows over his cheeks, before she brought her gaze down to his luscious lips and subconsciously licked her own. Her chest was rising and falling against his, and her already hardened nipples were lightly grazing his chest. She cast her mind back to earlier this evening, and although still slightly embarrassed that Nathan had caught her pleasuring herself, she was also glad that he had, because it had managed to bring them both to this moment, back together much sooner than she had originally anticipated, and that idea of needing a break from Nathan was now so far from her mind, she could barely even remember thinking up such a absurdly ludicrous idea. All she was thinking about was how much she loved him, how much she needed him.

Nathan could feel Haley's eyes on him and he opened up his own, wanting to see her, and let out a low groan when he saw the want and need she held for him in her eyes. He pulled his head away from hers and his own eyes roamed down her face, taking in her beautiful features, until they swept down her luscious neck to her chest, and he could see the tops of her breast crushed up against his body and once again, he groaned as he lowered his mouth to her skin and started to leave hot open-mouthed kisses along her cheekbone until he got to her ear. "You are so damn sexy, Haley." He whispered as he ran his tongue along her ear, causing her to arch her body up towards him, pressing herself further into him.

Haley shivered from the sensation of his tongue on her ear as she lowered her back to the bed, moving her hands up his back, over his neck and then she grabbed onto his hair, roughly tugging his mouth back to hers as she felt him place his full weight on her, and she moaned just before her mouth crashed against his forcefully at the feel of him fully laying on top of her, arching her back into him once more, wanting to be closer to him, even though that was probably physically impossible.

Nathan's hands moved down Haley's sides once more, and then he started to roam the bare skin along her hips and thighs, smiling against Haley's lips as she moaned into his mouth when he grabbed onto her ass and ground himself into her, needing to bring himself some relief, though not quite ready to enter her fully just yet.

"God, Nathan." Haley murmured against his lips as she felt him tear his mouth away from hers and start to move down to her neck, licking and biting his way along her skin until he came to the spot just below her ear. He began to suck on the soft skin there, causing her to cry out as his mouth moved up that little bit further and his teeth latched onto her earlobe, giving it a small tug. She was starting to lose control, she needed to feel him, and she wanted him inside of her right now. She decided to help speed things along a little, so she moved her hands further down his back and then just as she was about to move them over his hips, she subconsciously licked her lips at how close she was to her desired destination, only to then gasp sharply as she suddenly felt Nathan's hands grab a hold of both her wrists, effectively stilling her movements.

Nathan continued his ministrations on the side of Haley's neck, sucking down on the skin there; tasting her and breathing in her sensational scent as he did so, relishing in the knowledge that she wanted him so much. He smirked against her skin as he continued to hold onto her wrists, and then decided to move them from the spot where her hands were, so he forced them above her head as he continued to nibble along her neck. Once both her hands were above her head, he released one of his hands, latching onto her free wrist with his other hand, still holding them in place on the pillow as he lifted himself up off her body, his thighs straddling her legs tightly. "Don't you dare move your hands without my permission, Haley." He commanded darkly as he released her wrists, freeing both of his hands.

Haley complied with his command and left her hands above her head, despite the longing she had to touch him. She bit down on her bottom lip and sucked in a sharp breath as she felt him begin to run a single finger along the skin of her hipbone and she shuddered at the sensation. She desperately tried to bite back the giggle that needed to escape from her mouth as he continued his feather light touches, dragging his finger along her skin and around her belly button. She watched him as his finger then moved over to the other hip and she slowly began to smile at him, even though his eyes were glued to her body and he wouldn't catch it, however the smile quickly disappeared when she felt his finger trace down the apex of her thigh, and she couldn't hold in the moan that burst from her lips as she withered underneath him and moved her head from side to side. "More, Nathan." She whimpered as he moved his fingers further along her skin and lightly pressed his finger against her clit, beginning to run lazy circles around it. She clenched her fists together above her head, desperately trying to stop them from reaching out to him, her eyes wouldn't stop torturing herself as they ran over his muscular chest, and so she squeezed them shut, trying to block out the image of his tempting self straddling her like he was.

Nathan licked his lips and smiled as his eyes quickly glanced up to Haley's face. Her eyes were locked tightly shut and her fists were bunched up above her head, he could practically see the tension running along her arms, she was that wound up. He knew that his touches were driving her absolutely crazy, and he loved knowing that he could do this to her, he loved knowing that she wanted him this much, and the cocky smirk on his face appeared when he pressed his finger into her a little more firmly, hearing Haley gasp and feeling her squirm underneath him as he continued to run his finger around her clit.

Haley's moans and whimpers were filling the otherwise silent room as she felt Nathan continue to tease her while he had her pinned down underneath him. She needed something to distract her hands from moving to him and so she grabbed onto fistfuls of her hair as he brought his other hand to the top of her breast and one of his fingers followed the curve of it. She groaned as she felt his fingers move expertly on her body, she could already feel the overwhelming tightening in her stomach as he pushed her towards her release, and he hadn't even moved inside of her yet.

Nathan slowly began to move his fingers down into her folds, finding her absolutely soaked, and he moaned as he remembered fucking her with the vibrator earlier that evening. "You have no idea how much I wanted to be pounding into you earlier on Haley. I wanted to throw that vibrator of yours across the room and take you properly, but I managed to stop myself. But I'm not going to stop myself now Haley, do you know why?" He asked her as he continued to move his fingers through her folds.

Haley couldn't stop withering and moaning underneath him as his fingers continued to move along her folds. She knew that she wouldn't be able to form any words at all and so instead she just shook her head at him.

Nathan smiled wickedly at her as he brought his fingers back up to her clit, and ran his finger right over the top of it, causing Haley to buck her hips into him as he heard her moan out loud. "Because you don't want me to stop, do you?" He smirked at her.

God, Haley didn't know what the hell he was doing to her, all she knew was that she was going to explode if he didn't do something soon, and she was beginning to wonder if it was worth breaking his command and forcing his hand, for she really wasn't going to last much longer and the craving for him was becoming too much for her to take. The thought of him dominating her like this was too much to bear, and she couldn't take it a second longer, so she moved her hands quickly to his hips and moved them along his stomach, needing to touch him and she watched as his blue eyes darkened once he realised that she had broken his command.

A low growl built in Nathan's chest when he realised that she had disobeyed him, so he grabbed her hands and ceased her movements, moving them both to rest by the sides of her body. He leaned forward as he shifted one of his legs, nudging Haley's legs apart with his and then he settled in between them while pressing his weight onto her. "Did I say that you could move, Haley?" He asked in a dangerously low voice as his face hovered inches above her own, and his hands still held hers to the bed underneath his.

Haley bit down on her lip and then released it, shaking her head, letting him know that she knew that she had broken the rule he had given her. She looked him right in the eyes and breathed in slowly, trying to anticipate his next move. She then heard him growl at her again before he crashed his lips into hers and then he pulled back shortly after, leaving her gasping for air.

Once he had pulled away from her, Nathan slowly licked his lips which caused Haley to groan at him. He was playing with her now, and he was enjoying every single second of it. "Now, if I put your hands back up there, are you going to leave them there for me?" He asked in a seductive voice.

Haley nodded her head at him and tried very hard not to smile as she watched him arch one of his eyebrows at her, daring her to challenge him. She couldn't help but wonder what Nathan would do to her if she disobeyed him again, and a part of her desperately wanted to find out.

"Good." Nathan said once Haley had nodded her head in agreement with him. He then slowly pushed her wrists back above her head again as he leaned his head forward to capture her mouth with his again, unable to stay away from her for too long. This time deciding to kiss her slowly and intensely as both his hands moved down her soft silky skin until he grabbed her by the hips and ground his lower half into her, moaning into her mouth as he did so. "God Haley, you have no idea how sexy you look laying underneath me like this." He said softly as he kissed the side of her neck before he slid down her body, leaving a trail of wet kisses along her shoulders, down the valley of her breasts, across her stomach and down to her thighs.

Haley's hands were gripping the pillow underneath her head so tightly, she was sure that she was going to rip it. She then felt his nose run along the inside of her thigh and listened as he inhaled deeply. God that was so fucking sexy. She wished that she could touch him too because it was driving her absolutely insane not being able to explore his body too, but she decided to obey his command of leaving her hands where they were, and was going to enjoy whatever he had planned for her, knowing that she was extremely lucky to have such a gorgeous and wonderful man want to worship her like this.

Nathan began to move his mouth further down the inside of her thigh, leaving a trail of kisses as he moved down her legs to her ankles. He smirked against her skin as he felt her try to rub her legs together to try to create some friction, and ran his hands up her legs, parting them again as he did so. He pulled himself up from her ankles and rested on his knees, watching as Haley's eyes roamed over his naked body and he smirked at her.

He was just so beautiful; there was no other word that Haley could use to describe him. Her eyes ran all over his body, over his broad shoulders, his defined muscles, his chiselled abs and his slim hips, until her gaze rested on that magnificently hard cock of his, which was standing to full attention and she found herself aching to touch it; she needed to touch him.

Nathan continued to smirk at her as her eyes rested on his cock, and he was obviously pleased with the longing look she was giving him and so he decided to tease her some more. He wrapped his hand firmly around his length and ran it up and down his shaft slowly, letting out a chuckle as he watched Haley begin to lift her hands, before realising what she was doing and halting her movements. He shook his head at her and then released himself, watching her seductive tongue lick around her luscious lips as he began to crawl back up the bed, eventually settling himself in between her legs.

Haley arched her back up into him as she felt his hands slide up her stomach and curved up to cup her breasts as he brought his lips back to her neck, leaving hot wet kisses on her skin. She felt his fingers trace around her nipples, causing them to harden and she moaned when he trailed his tongue down from her neck to her left nipple, loving the sensation of his mouth on her chest as he caught her nipple in between his teeth and tugged on it lightly.

Nathan brought one hand down Haley's side slowly and ran his fingertips down over her hip, teasing the sensitive skin as he moved his hand to the back of my thigh and brought it up so that Haley's foot was laying flat against the bed beside him. His mouth was still playing with her nipple and he could hear her panting and writhing as he moved his hand to run across the top of my thigh and down to where he knew she wanted him.

"Nathan please, I need you to touch me." Haley whispered breathily as she fought to keep her hands still above her head, trying to subtly move her hips so that his hand would be right where she needed him, and she heard him chuckled against her chest, the vibrations sending a shockwave through her body. She felt his fingers began to run along the patch of sensitive skin at the side of her hip as he continued to nip and tug at my nipple, causing Haley to moan and throw my head back against the pillow. He was killing her, slowly and painfully and she didn't know how much more of this she could take.

Nathan moved his mouth away from her nipple and kissed his way to the bottom of her left breast and began licking and kissing the underside of her breast before he ran a line of kisses up the centre of them while his lower hand continued what he knew was a torturous trail up and down her thigh, never touching me where he knew that she wanted him the most. He was being cruel, but he loved getting her like this.

"Please Nathan." Haley whimpered as she felt his mouth move to the other breast and felt his teeth close around her right nipple as he began to tug at it with his teeth softly. She could feel his mouth forming into a smirk as he rubbed his hardness against her thigh; and she groaned and thrashed her head from side to side, all the while thinking that he really was trying to torture her, and it was fucking working. "Nathan please let me touch you, I can't stay like this." Haley begged as she pounded her fists into the pillow above her head, one hundred percent certain that she was going to die of sexual frustration if he kept this shit up for a second longer.

Nathan's hands made their way back up her body, along both her arms and he gently pried open Haley's fists and then laced his fingers with hers as he began to kiss his way back to her mouth. As soon as his mouth softly pressed against hers, he felt Haley's hips buck up against him and he moaned as she sucked his lower lip into her mouth.

Haley heard him moan into her mouth and she could feel the tip of his cock pressed right against her upper thigh, dangerously close to her wetness, dangerously close to where she needed him. If she just pushed her hips up slightly he would be right there, right where she craved him, and it was taking all of her self-control to let him lead her. She bit down on his lip and she felt him grind his hips into her with a groan, and then he released her hands and ran them down her body, eventually pressing them harshly into her hips as his tongue thrust forcefully into her mouth. She tried to persuade him into her by pressing my hips up against his, but then she felt him pull away from her panting harshly and holding onto her hips so tightly it almost hurt.

"God Haley, you don't know how much I need you, how much I love you. I can't live without you." Nathan panted as his lips hovered just above Haley's, needing her to understand that if she left him, he would be absolutely devastated.

"I can't live without you either, Nathan, I won't." Haley replied breathily while looking deeply into his eyes. "I need you, Nathan, I love you." She could still see the remnants of the struggle he had been having earlier remaining in his eyes as he stilled himself above her. Her chest was pressed tightly to his, moving against his with each deep breath she took. It was almost as if he was afraid of telling her how he truly felt but she knew that there was no going back from this. "Nathan I belong with you, I know that. Nothing is going to keep us apart." She said as she lifted her hand and gently ran it through his hair in a tender, loving gesture, watching as his eyes closed and he leaned his head into my hand, softly moaning at the sensation of her fingers on his scalp.

Nathan knew he was being completely irrational, but he couldn't help it, he needed that reassurance from her, he had never felt this insecure in his life, it wasn't like him at all. He decided in that moment to completely trust what Haley was saying to him, knowing that he was being silly, he knew that she loved him, he knew that she wanted to be with him, so he let the fear leave his body completely and concentrated on the sensational woman he had lying underneath him. He then opened his eyes and leaned forward and kissed her before pulling away from her mouth.

Haley then ran her other hand along his side as she felt Nathan position himself above her so that he was supported by his elbows on either side of her chest. He slowly ran his hands through her hair, pushing it away from her face and securing it behind her ear, caressing her cheek with each soft stroke of his fingertips. She could feel him twitching at her opening and as she looked into his eyes, she could see the burning desire he held in those beautiful blue eyes, desire that burned for her only.

Without any further hesitation, Nathan placed his lips on hers, his tongue instantly seeking the warmth of her mouth as he pushed his cock up inside of her soaking wet pussy. He moaned into her mouth at the sensation of being inside of her again, nothing could ever compare to this feeling. He felt Haley lift her hips slightly as he continued to push into her. Once he was fully sheathed inside of her, he pulled away from her slightly and let out a long shuddering breath against her lips, being inside of her was pure perfection.

Haley felt him stop as soon as he was all the way inside of her. She could feel every single inch of him around her inner walls. She was filled by him completely. After a few moments, she felt him begin to rock his hips against hers gently and she eagerly met each movement he made by bringing her hips up off the bed to join him. She felt Nathan's hands move from her hair to her shoulders and his mouth began to run wet open-mouthed kisses along her jaw and down to her neck as she arched her chest up against him, she couldn't get close enough to him. She was completely wrapped up in him and as he picked up the pace, lightly thrusting in and then pulling back out, she could feel the familiar emotions of being with him stirring inside of her yet again.

Nathan began to grind against Haley, moving one of his hands down to grip her forcefully by the hip as both of their movements became more urgent. Every time he moved inside of her, he felt his body respond, the burning sensation from deep inside of him was starting to spin completely out of control. He moved his mouth all over her face, lightly kissing any inch of skin he could get a hold of, and he felt Haley return each small kiss on his shoulders and his neck. Her hands ran up and down his strong muscular back pushing him down into her and he moaned as he continued to move in and out of her, picking up the pace once again.

Haley could feel the muscles in her legs begin to tense, and she could tell by his frantic movements that he was right there with her. She lifted up her legs and threw them around his hips as he continued to push into her and she felt him groan against my neck at the sensation the angle produced, allowing him to move even deeper inside of her as she forcing her hips up of the bed, slamming them into his own as he pushed her even further towards her release. She could feel the tingling sensation slowly working its way up through her body as she felt Nathan's movements became harsher and much less controlled, but she still wanted more. "Harder, Nathan." She whispered in his ear between her moans as he plunged into her once more.

Nathan grunted as he leaned back and brought one of his arms up so he could hold onto the headboard of his bed as he angled his hips and drove further into her. His blue eyes were locked with Haley's in an intense stare as he continued to push into her deeper and deeper with each stroke, fighting his release, wanting to savour this for as long as possible. He was so wound up and tense as he gripped onto the headboard even tighter, his other hand fisting into the pillow beside Haley's face.

Haley felt him lean back a little further as he brought his arm down from the pillow and rested it next to her side as he held himself away from her, driving into her and an increased pace. The new angle was hitting her over and over again in the most perfect place, he was hitting her spot with each thrust and she could feel all of her muscles beginning to sporadically tense around him. "Oh, God Nathan, right there." She panted as one of her legs fell from its lock around his waist and fell back to the bed.

Nathan could feel Haley writhing around him as he fought to maintain control. He continued to repeat his action over and over again, thrusting into her quickly, hearing Haley's moans getting increasingly louder with every stroke. He then brought one of his hands around to her hip and arched her off of the bed completely pounding into her relentlessly.

Haley's breathing was completely out of control, and as he had her up of the bed, she decided to take advantage of the position she was now in and reached around to stroke his balls. She smiled into his neck as she began to softly stroke his balls between her fingers and she felt his hips began to move even more swiftly into her as he let out a low groan.

"Fuck, Haley." Nathan grunted as he brought his hand down from the headboard and slammed it down to the side of my head, throwing himself into his movements. Nathan could feel that his control was waning, and he was getting closer and closer with each movement of his hips, hoping that Haley was just as close as he was. He then felt Haley's hand leave his balls, thank God, and then as he quickly glanced down to where their bodies were joined, he saw that she was now rubbing her clit with her fingers, and he instantly thought back to earlier on this evening when he had first caught Haley playing with herself.

Haley was so close, she watched as Nathan's deep blue eyes started to flicker between her own eyes and watching her touch herself as he continued to thrust into her. She then removed my hand and his brows creased as if to ask why she was stopping, but then his eyes grew wide as she slowly brought the two fingers that had been playing with her clit to her mouth and licked them. Haley watched as his eyes flashed dangerously as he watched her lick of her juices, and then she slowly moved them back down her body.

God she was killing him. That was so fucking sexy and right now he knew that he was seconds away from spilling into her, but he wasn't going to do it until she got there too. He growled as he watched Haley return her fingers to her clit, watching as she increased the pressure of her fingers. He had to make her come, right now, he wasn't going to last much longer, so he angled his hips again and began to thrust into her more forcefully with long deep strokes, smiling at the reaction this got from Haley.

"Yes, fuck yes!" Haley gasped out as she began to feel her muscles contract around him; feeling the start of her impending orgasm. He was moving so deeply inside of her, and as her walls clamped down on his cock, she could feel him struggling to continue. She arched her back which just allowed him to go that little bit deeper inside of her.

"Fuck Haley." Nathan grunted as he continued his torturous pace, driving himself inside of her, feeling every extra centimetre that Haley's arched back allowed him to feel. He looked down and could see Haley's body beginning to tense and arch up further as her orgasm intensified. He felt her other leg drop to the bed and she pushed up with her feet so that her hips met his at each thrust. "Fuck!" Nathan cried out, still trying to hold on for her, though by now it was near impossible for him to do so.

"Oh God Nathan, l'm... I'm... Fuck!" Haley moaned out as she heard Nathan continue to pant and groan above her, maintaining eye contact with her as her muscles began to clench around him forcefully and her legs began to shake with the force of her orgasm which was spreading through her body like wildfire.

"God Haley, you look so fucking beautiful when you come." Nathan moaned out as he felt her muscles clench onto his cock, and then with one more harsh stroke, his entire body stilled and his back arched out as he felt every single muscle in his arms and neck tense. He felt Haley's hands move around his back which forced him further inside of her as he released into her, as he lowered his head to her shoulder and moaned into her skin.

As Haley's muscles began to relax she felt Nathan collapse to his elbows as he gasped for air, his mouth leaving wet kisses along her neck. She ran her hands up his sides and back, basking in the afterglow of her fucking amazing orgasm. She felt his body shudder lightly as she slowly brought her fingertips up the soft skin of his sides, to just underneath his armpits, and she could feel him smiling against her neck as his breathing began to return to normal. She then ran her hand back down his side as he still lay on top of her with his cock inside of her, and she giggled as she touched what must have been a sensitive spot near his hip and he shot up off her body slightly.

Nathan shook his head as he looked down at her and then lowered his head to her neck once he felt Haley still her hands and he began to kiss her skin lightly as he felt Haley turn her head towards him and she kissed what she could reach as she brought her hands up his back. He lifted his head and moved towards her mouth, placing a light kiss on her lips. He cupped her face with his hands as he continued to kiss her softly.

After a few moments, Haley felt him pull back slightly and she smiled shyly up at him as she gazed into his beautiful eyes, whimpering slightly when she felt him slowly begin to pull himself out of her. She felt him roll of her once he had removed himself from her and as he did so, he rolled her onto her side with him, and brought an arm around her back and pulled her in close to him so that her chests was pressed against his.

Nathan leaned forward and kissed Haley's cheek lightly as he hugged her close to him and placed his chin on the top of her head, smiling to himself at how amazing she was. "I love you so much Haley." Nathan whispered into her hair as he placed another kiss on the top of her head.

"I love you too, Nathan." Haley replied as she snuggled further into his side and closed her eyes, feeling him grip tightly onto her as she fell asleep.

**~*~**

Nathan hadn't really slept at all. He much preferred to just watch Haley sleep, it was far more interesting that catching a few moments rest for himself; she looked absolutely perfect and completely peaceful as she slept. He couldn't help bringing his hand down to lightly ghost over her cheek, before he turned and looked at the clock, seeing that it was half five already. He knew that he needed to go and get ready for work, but he couldn't help wanting to stay in bed with his angel for just half an hour longer. Half an hour wouldn't hurt, and besides, he wanted to go to work with Haley this morning, for today marked the beginning of their relationship, she had told him that nothing would get in the way of that and he believed her completely.

Half an hour later, Nathan decided that it was time that he got up, but he didn't want to wake Haley just yet, he was going to let her have a lie in and make them both some breakfast once he had got himself washed and ready. He walked into the bathroom and started the shower, and then walked back into his bedroom, checking that the noise of the water from his shower wasn't waking her, smiling at the fact that she was still snuggled up in bed, sleeping peacefully, and so he left her as he took a shower and got himself ready for another day, only today was special, today was all about him and Haley.

He wandered downstairs once he had changed into his suit and pondered to himself, wondering if Haley would still be embarrassed about the fact that he had caught her masturbating last night, despite the fact that they had ended the night with some amazing love making, and he smiled to himself as he shook his head at the fact that he was even considering her not being embarrassed about it, of course she would be, she was Haley after all.

Haley awoke half an hour later, finding herself in a strange room which wasn't her own, and this confused her deeply. She furrowed her brow, trying to work out where she was, and as she rubbed her eyes and looked around the room, she realised that it was Nathan's bed that she was in, and all of a sudden, images of the night before rushed back to her. Oh God. He had found her fucking herself with a vibrator. Then she had walked into his room and found him playing with himself, which then lead to the most intense sex she had ever had. But forget the amazing sex, that still didn't change the fact that he had found her fucking herself with a vibrator. Fuck. _How the hell am I going to live this one down? _She pondered to herself in a complete and utter panic.

She quickly jumped from the bed and took a quick shower before getting herself ready for work. She raced down the stairs and along the hallway as quickly as she could, hoping to run out of the front door without Nathan noticing that she was leaving for work. She had taken extra long getting ready this morning, making herself purposefully late, so he shouldn't be at the apartment anyway, but she still ran towards the front door just in case he was also running late or something. She was still absolutely mortified that Nathan had not only watched her pleasure herself last night, but also at the fact that he had joined in and helped her, and as she thought about last night's activities once more, she couldn't do anything but blush. She was so damn close to walking out of the door without having to see him, when she heard him call out her name. She groaned in frustration at the fact that he was still here, what the hell could he possibly want from her, other than to torture her obviously, didn't he know that she was trying to avoid him?

Nathan leaned against the counter in the kitchen and watched as Haley scurried along the corridor, grinning to himself. He had been waiting for her for at least an hour by now, since he had heard her get out of the shower and he had guessed right, he knew that she would be embarrassed as hell about what had happened last night, but he wasn't going to let her get away with it that easily. He waited until she was mere seconds away from reaching the door before he called out to her, feeling in an incredibly playful mood, given how happy he was today. "Hey Hales, wait up, I've got the car waiting for us downstairs." He said as he ran along the hallway after her.

Haley muttered something completely unintelligible under her breath and then walked out of the front door, hearing Nathan follow behind her as she pressed the button to call the elevator to their floor.

Once they were out on the street, Nathan reached down and caught her hand in his as he started to walk towards the car that was waiting for them. He felt Haley try and subtly remove her hand from his, but he only tightened his grip on her hand, not wanting to let her go. He had missed being able to touch her and given how significant today was, he wanted to start the day off right, he couldn't help himself, even though he knew that Haley was still technically with her boyfriend right now, that was all changing today, so it didn't matter if they were caught together.

Haley was trying to free her hand from Nathan's, because it was the right thing to do, they shouldn't be touching each other like that, not until she was completely clear of Tom, especially in public, but her struggle against him was futile and weak, because she was enjoying the fact that she was touching him once again. She couldn't help the fact that she glanced around the street quickly though, feeling slightly self conscious, wanting to be careful and check to see if there was anyone around watching them, and she squinted as she thought she saw someone step quickly around the corner out of her sight, but she didn't quite catch who it was. She continued looking at the corner, but the person didn't reappear. Once they reached the car, Haley shook her hand free. "Nathan, don't touch me, please." She said as he opened up the door to the car, and she looked behind her once more but didn't see anyone where she thought she had. She shrugged and started to walk towards the door that Nathan had opened for her.

Nathan smirked and raised an eyebrow at her, and then leaned down to her ear just before she got into the car. "You sure didn't mind me touching you last night baby." He whispered huskily in her ear.

Haley glared at Nathan furiously as she bent down and got into the car, shaking her head at him. She wanted to shout at him, she wanted to tell him to shut up and never mention that night ever again, but she didn't. She knew that Nathan would only continue to tease her if he knew how annoyed it was making her. So instead, she sat in the car and ignored him, especially when he started to laugh at her as the car started to drive them towards the office. God he could be such an ass sometimes.

**~*~**

As soon as Haley walked into her office, she pulled out her phone from her bag and dialled Tom's number, and just as she had expected, it went straight to voicemail. "Stupid asshole." She muttered under her breath as she placed her phone next to her keyboard on her desk, not bothering to leave him a message, she had left enough already. She was going to call him every half an hour until lunchtime, she decided and if he hadn't picked up or called her back by then, she was going to take matters into her own hands and walk over to his office herself. She wouldn't wait until it was convenient for him, not when he was being so inconvenient to her by ignoring her. She had no idea what his motivation was for ignoring her, maybe he was still mad about the engagement party, but either way, she didn't care anymore. She pulled out her purse and checked that she still had the ring in there, she was going to give it back to him once she had ended things with him, she didn't want any reminder of the horrific mistake she had made in saying yes to him in the first place.

Half an hour later, well actually, twenty minutes later, she called him again. As she waited for the call to connect, she crossed her legs and leaned back in her chair, waiting for his annoying voicemail to kick in once again. She was tapping her fingernails on the desk when finally she heard him pick up.

"Hi Haley." He said as he picked up the phone, acting like nothing was wrong at all.

Haley almost jumped right out of her seat when she realised that he had in fact, at last, answered one of her phone calls. She was raging inside at the fact that he was acting so nonchalant about speaking to her, especially when she had been trying to get hold of him so desperately. But she decided to keep her cool, ranting on at him right now was probably not the best tactic for her to employ, not when she needed him to cooperate about meeting up with her at some point today. "Hi Tom." She responded, waiting to see what he was going to say to her next, wondering if he was going to mention anything about the engagement party to her.

"So how have you been?" Tom asked.

Haley shook her head to herself, still not quite believing how casual he was being with her. He was seriously asking how she had been when he had to know that she had been leaving more than a couple messages on his phone asking him to call her back. What the hell was his problem? However, instead of biting his head off down the phone, she took a deep breath and decided to be polite. "I've been fine thank you." She answered, however, she didn't want to continue with this insane small talk, and so she decided to get right to it. "Listen, I really need to talk to you. Are you free at some point today?" Haley asked.

"I have meetings all morning and for the early part of the afternoon, and then I'm free from three until five, and then I have to take some clients out to dinner with Lucas, which I think you know about." Tom answered.

Haley sighed to herself and checked Lucas' calendar and saw that he did indeed have a meeting with some clients this evening at some fancy restaurant. She debated about what she should do for a second and eventually decided it would be best if she got this over and done with as soon as possible, besides she had promised Nathan that she would do this today, so if he only had an couple of hours free this afternoon, then she was going to take the time that he had available and make sure that this relationship was finished by the time Nathan came home from work. "Okay, well I really need to talk to you, today, so can you come over to my place at around half three so that we can talk?" Haley asked, hoping that Lucas wouldn't mind that she was skimming off work a little early for the second day in a row. She'd make sure that she made up the time during the rest of the week and he never usually had a problem with her being flexible with her hours before, so she didn't envisage him having a major problem with her about this, and besides, he was still avoiding her because of the whole him not telling her about Nathan owning the apartment thing.

"Yeah sure Haley, what did you want to talk about?" Tom asked.

Haley rolled her eyes, quite how he couldn't see what she wanted to discuss with him was just beyond her. The last time she had seen him, she had run out of the surprise engagement party he had arranged for her, he couldn't possibly think that everything was okay between them, surely. However, she didn't want to disclose any information about what she wanted to say to him over the phone, she didn't want to say anything that might discourage him from turning up at the apartment, this had to end, today and she wasn't going to let anything stop it from happening. "Just stuff. I'll see you later okay?" Haley said.

"Sure, I'll see you at half three Haley." Tom said as he hung up his phone.

Haley placed her phone back in her bag and smiled to herself, pleased that she was finally going to be able to put an end to all this madness. Now all she needed was for three thirty to roll around quickly, and somehow, she didn't think that it would.

**~*~**

After what felt like an eternity, three o'clock came around. Haley had already cleared it with Luke and he had no problem whatsoever with her leaving a little bit early, and he even told her not to bother making up her hours, and despite appreciating him saying that, Haley knew that she would anyway, she always felt bad about leaving work early. She raced out of the building and hailed a taxi right outside of the office and once he pulled up outside the apartment building, she raced up the stairs and quickly made sure that the apartment was clean and free of anything which would alert Tom to the fact that Nathan firstly owned it and the fact that he was also living with her there. Once she had finished putting the post away in the drawer and cleaned up a little, she sat herself down on the sofa and started to flick through the channels, hoping he wouldn't be late.

Five minutes later, Haley heard the intercom to the apartment buzz, and she walked nervously over to the hallway to let him in. She had no idea why she was so nervous, it wasn't because she wasn't sure that what she was doing was right, because she knew that ending things with Tom was most certainly something she should have done a long time ago, she just didn't know how he was going to take it at all. She let him in the building and then waited for him to come up the elevator, opening the front door so that when he walked around the corner, he could walk right into the apartment.

"Hey Haley." Tom said as he walked into the apartment and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Nice place you have here." He said as he nodded his head in approval, taking in his surroundings.

"Thanks." Haley said as she shut the door and walked them into the lounge, taking a seat on the sofa opposite the one that Tom had chosen to sit down on, wanting to keep some distance in between them. She then placed her hands in her lap and started to play with her fingers, unsure of how she should start this.

Tom smiled at Haley as he realised that she was nervous about something, and decided to break the ice and get her talking, given that it seemed she had something she wanted to say to him. "So…" Tom said as he continued to smile at her.

Haley cleared her throat and forced herself to look at him, making herself think about being with Nathan as motivation to end this right now and not be a coward about it. She took a deep breath and started talking. "Tom things haven't been right between us for a while now. I'm not happy with the way things have been between us for some time now and I think if you are honest with yourself, you'll realise that you aren't happy either." She said and then waited for him to say something back to her; she was waiting for the protests and the shouting to begin. Only he just sat there and said nothing, which was totally not what she was expecting to happen. She cast her eyes over his face quickly, trying to read what he was thinking, but she didn't have a clue, and so she started to get nervous again and that's when the rambling started. "I mean we hardly see each other anymore and when we do something goes wrong and I just don't feel how I used to feel about you. You never call me, we never do anything together and it's just not working for me Tom. I hope you kind of feel the same way too and quite honestly I can't really see how any of this is coming as a shock to you at all, given the way things have been between us lately. I really shouldn't have accepted your proposal in the first place because that just seemed to make things a hundred times worse than they already were." Once Haley had completely run out of things to say, she shut up and looked over at Tom, who was still sitting on the sofa not saying a word to her. She really did wish that he would say something, because the silence was driving her crazy. She was about to start rambling again but managed to catch her tongue before she started, she really didn't want to be repeating herself and quite honestly she had no idea what the hell had just come out of her mouth, so she thought it best to stay quiet and wait for his reaction, which he didn't seem to be very forthcoming with.

**~*~**

The day had seemed to drag at a ridiculous pace for Nathan, purely for the fact that he kept wishing the hours away, waiting for home time. It had got to three o'clock in the afternoon and he couldn't take it anymore, it was pointless him sitting at his desk twiddling his thumbs, he couldn't concentrate on anything so he decided to call it a day then and there. He couldn't help the smile that was plastered all over his face as he walked out of the building, knowing that once he walked into the apartment, that Haley would be his. In fact, she had been his since lunchtime, but he didn't want to think like that until it was all official, and she was in his arms. So for him, they weren't officially together until she walked into their apartment and he was kissing her over and over again. He decided to stop at the florist and had a huge bunch of flowers for her and also wanted to stop at the grocery store and pick up something nice so that he could cook them a meal to celebrate the beginning of their relationship properly, making sure to also pick up an expensive bottle of champagne and some candles, he wanted to create the perfect romantic evening for them both tonight.

Once he had all of his purchases in his hands, he grabbed a taxi and headed back to the apartment, feeling extremely excited at being able to call Haley his and his alone, finally. It had definitely been a long time coming.

**~*~**

Tom still hadn't said a word, and Haley was starting to worry about what was really going on in that head of his. She took another deep breath and decided to break the silence. "Tom, do you understand what I'm saying?" She asked him.

Tom raised an eyebrow and smirked at Haley. "Yes I do understand what you're saying Haley." He answered her.

"So you understand that I don't want us to be together anymore. You understand that I want to break up with you?" Haley said, spelling it out very clearly for him, to ensure that there was in fact no misunderstanding between them both whatsoever. She really didn't want any of their lines to get crossed; she wanted him to know that she was serious and meant what she was saying to him.

"I understand that's what you want, yes." He answered her.

Haley continued to look at him suspiciously, she really wasn't expecting him to be this calm at all, and it was scaring her. She had thought that she knew exactly how Tom would react to this news, and the way he was actually taking it was literally the total polar opposite to what she had been expecting. She furrowed her brow and then decided that she should be glad that he was taking this so well. Maybe the reason for him being so calm was because he knew that the end of their relationship was coming too, maybe he had wanted things to end between them too. That thought made her feel a lot better about the whole situation and so she smiled over at him as she stood up from the sofa, watching as he stood up from his seat too, and she began to walk him back to the front door. She opened the front door and suddenly remembered that she hadn't given him the ring back. "Hold on one second." She said as she rushed back inside and pulled the ring out from her purse and then walked back over to where Tom was standing, just outside in the hallway to the apartment. "Here." She said as she placed the ring in his hand.

Tom looked down at the ring and then placed it back in Haley's hands. "No, you keep it." He said as he held her hands in his.

"Tom... please take it, I don't feel right about having it." Haley protested, really wishing that he would take it with him, she didn't need it, and she certainly didn't want it.

Nathan had just stepped out of the elevator and made sure that he wasn't crushing the flowers he had bought for Haley with all the bags he was carrying before walking along the corridor to his apartment. He couldn't wait to get inside and start preparing the meal he had planned; he really wanted to do something special for Haley. He had just turned around the corner to the apartment and saw that a man was standing with his back to him right outside of his apartment. He looked on, confused slightly, and just behind the guy he could see Haley who was standing in the doorway. He didn't know what the hell was going on, but what he saw next was enough to completely crush him.

Tom curled Haley's hand around the ring and leaned into her, and placed a lingering kiss on the side of her neck before placing two lighter kisses up towards her ear. "Haley, keep the ring. We're not over yet." Tom whispered in her ear.

Nathan felt like he couldn't breathe. The dude had just kissed her fucking neck and was holding her hands tightly around his. He had no idea who the fuck the guy was, but he could only presume that he was The Boyfriend. And the kiss he had just left on Haley's neck didn't look at all innocent to him. No fucking way. You don't kiss your exes neck. And as soon as that thought entered his mind, all his fears just came barrelling to the forefront of his mind. He was obviously kissing her neck because he wasn't her ex, and Haley hadn't broken up with him, and somehow, he had managed to persuade her to stay with him. He shook his head at the scene he was witnessing before him and quickly turned back around the corner, unable to watch anymore. He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, lowering the contents of his hands to the floor. And the only thought that entered his mind at that point was the need to get the hell out of there, he needed some air, he needed to think, he needed to wrap his head around what he had just seen, so he ran down the stairs and made his way out towards the main road.

Haley closed her eyes when she felt Tom kiss her neck. She didn't know what the fuck he was doing to her but before she had a chance to push him away, he had whispered that shit in her ear. What the hell did he mean, 'we're not over yet'? Hadn't he listened to a word she had just said? She opened her eyes quickly. "Tom we are finished. I don't want to see you anymore. I thought you said you understood me?" Haley questioned him, her voice rising slightly. "What the hell do you mean?"

"You'll see." Tom said with a smile and then turned and started to walk away from her.

"Tom we are over." Haley said sternly as he walked away from her and she watched as he turned around to face her again right before he got to the corner.

"That's what you think Haley." Tom said and then turned around and walked round the corner, noticing that a load of shopping bags and a rather expensive looking bunch of flowers were lying just around the corner of Haley's apartment, which he found incredibly strange, as who the hell would leave something like that in the hallway, but he shrugged it off as he called the elevator, hearing the door to Haley's apartment slam shut behind him.

Haley slammed the door shut in pure frustration. Whatever the hell his problem was, she really didn't know but he annoyed the shit out of her sometimes, why couldn't he just accept the fact that they had broken up, that it hadn't worked out, that she didn't want him? She stomped back into the lounge and paced around a little, before sitting herself down on the sofa, trying to calm herself down. Her heart was racing in her chest but as she forced her brain to think coherently instead of screaming profanities at Tom, she realised that as far as she was concerned, she had done it, finally, she had broken up with him. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face at that thought; she was finally free from him and able to start afresh with Nathan. She didn't care about what Tom had just said, it didn't matter, because as far as she was concerned, they were done, she never had to see him, or put up with his bullshit again. From this point onwards, she was Nathan's. And at that thought, her heartbeat slowed down completely, and she felt so calm, knowing that everything was in its right place.

~*~

Nathan had walked to the closest bar and had already downed enough shots of scotch, but that didn't stop him from ordering another. He had no idea how long he had been sitting at the bar drinking, and he didn't really care, because nothing mattered to him anymore. Not now that he had lost Haley for good. He motioned to the bartender that he wanted another drink, and saw the look that he gave him, as if to silently ask him if he'd had enough already, and Nathan scoffed at him. "Listen, either you fill up my drink for me, or I take my custom elsewhere." Nathan slurred at the barman and smiled limply when he saw that he had placed a refill next to the empty glass he was playing with in his hands.

He groaned in frustration at himself as the image of that asshole kissing Haley's neck came right back to the forefront of his mind. He didn't know what the hell was wrong with him, he didn't understand why his mind kept torturing himself with that image, but it just wouldn't go away. He grabbed the scotch and downed the whole lot in one gulp, not even wincing at the burn that followed once he had swallowed it, he liked the fact that it hurt, it showed that he was at least feeling something right now. He frowned as he placed the empty glass back down on the bar, and began to spin the glass in his hands, unable to shake the emptiness and resentment he was holding inside of him.

He couldn't believe that after all Haley had promised him last night, that she had let that asshole talk her into staying with him, he couldn't believe that she would do that to him, that she could hurt him so fucking much. Ever since he had walked into the bar, he had been trying to forget, trying to forget what he had just seen, trying to forget the pain that was ripping through his entire body, trying to ignore that ache that he felt in his heart. He wanted to hate Haley, he wanted to completely despise her for what he had done to her, and even though his head was telling his body to do just that, he knew that his heart wasn't listening; his heart still belonged to her, even if he didn't belong in hers.

The knowledge of that completely infuriated him. He didn't want to love her, he wanted to loathe her, he wanted to completely forget about her and the way that she had made him feel, because he knew that he wouldn't ever feel that way about anyone ever again, and the fact that he knew how amazing and wonderful falling in love with the right person for him was, well he knew that it would haunt him forever, given that he already knew that the only person on the planet that was right for him was now with someone else. And he didn't have it in him to fight for her again; he couldn't do it to himself. Twice now he had put himself on the line and each fucking time she had managed to completely rip him to shreds. He wasn't going to let there be a third time. He wouldn't survive a third time.

He clenched the glass that he was holding onto so tightly, he thought he might break it, but that didn't stop him from continuing to do so. He wanted it to break, he wanted to see something other than his heart shattering into a million and one tiny pieces. He was so angry at himself for allowing himself to get so wrapped up in someone. This was the very reason why he had never allowed himself to fall so harshly for anyone before Haley had come around, the fear that someone had so much power over you, so much control of your emotions, used to be enough to make him feel physically sick. And now that he was tending to a heart that felt like it had been stomped on by a heard of fucking elephants, well he wasn't going to ever let anyone get so close to him again, no fucking way.

But as much as he was fucked off at himself, he was also seething at Haley. How could she fucking do that to him? How could she go back on her words? Didn't she give a fuck about him at all? Or was all this some stupid fucked up game that she was playing? Did she enjoy watching people get their hearts broken or something? God she really was such a fucking bitch. He could feel his jaw locking tighter and tighter as he continued to try to understand what the hell she had been doing with him, wondering what The Boyfriend had said to her that made her change his mind. Why the hell wasn't he good enough for her? He gripped the glass even tighter than he had been as visions of Haley fucking that guy in his apartment came to the forefront of his mind, and then he felt a pair of feminine hands grip his and loosen his grasp on the glass.

He looked up at the woman who was seated next to him, and she smiled at him. But he wasn't in the mood for shit like that, not tonight. "Fuck off." He snarled at her as he brought the glass closer to his chest and away from her claws.

The woman raised her eyebrow at him. "Someone's not very happy tonight." She cooed at him.

Nathan rolled his eyes and eventually lifted them back to hers. "No I'm not fucking happy, so why don't you move your ass away from me and leave me in peace." Nathan returned bitterly to her, before continuing to play with his empty glass, wanting nothing more than to just be left alone. He then decided that he needed another drink, and lifted his head to the barman and motioned that he wanted another, only to find the barman shook his head at him. "Fucking dick." Nathan called out when he realised that he wasn't going to be able to have another drink.

The woman laughed and asked the barman if she could get a scotch.

Nathan turned his gaze to the woman and was about to get up and walk away from her, because if she was just going to sit there and drink scotch right in front of his face while he couldn't, well that was going to just make him ten times more angry than he already was, and that wouldn't be good for anybody, when she pushed the drink towards him. He looked up at her and saw that she was smiling at him, and he smiled back as he sat back down in the chair and cradled the drink like it was a newborn baby, maybe she wouldn't be such bad company after all, especially if it meant he could continue drinking.

"So what's your story?" The woman asked him.

"You don't want to know." Nathan responded sourly as he took a gulp of the scotch, not wishing to relive the disaster that was his and Haley's relationship with anybody right now.

The woman laughed at him and crossed her legs as she turned to face him. "Let me guess. Trying to mend a broken heart?" She asked him.

Nathan turned to look at the woman with a scowl across his face. "No. I'm not trying to mend anything." He responded, before glaring at the bottles behind the bar.

"But you've still got a broken heart right?" The woman asked him as she ordered another scotch from the barman.

Nathan sucked in a deep breath but didn't respond, instead, he picked up the scotch glass and finished its contents, before picking up the new one the woman had just placed in front of him. He turned his head to her as he brought the glass to his lips. "Thanks." He said to her as he took a sip of it and then placed it back down on the bar.

Nathan didn't say a word to her, preferring the easy silence that had enveloped them. Every once and a while, he would turn his head and look at her, and each time in doing so he lingered his gaze on her body for that little bit longer. She wasn't bad looking, nothing compared to Haley, of course, but pretty. He hated the fact that he was comparing her to Haley, but he couldn't help it. She must be taller than Haley, her legs looked longer than hers did, and her face wasn't as pretty, her eyes didn't have that depth that Haley seemed to have, and her smile did absolutely nothing to him, whereas Haley's sucked all the air out of him. But to say she wasn't nice looking would have been a lie.

"So..." The woman said as she uncrossed her legs and leaned into him.

He could smell her perfume now that she was closer to him, and it wasn't as innocent as Haley's was, it was spicy and tangy and had a strong bite to it, whereas Haley's perfume smelled sweet and innocent, but there was something lingering in the smell of Haley's perfume, and you knew that there was this subtle hint to it, if you took enough notice of it, and of course he always had. And the thought of not being able to just smell her anymore was enough to rattle him completely. He wouldn't just sit here and wallow all night, he just wouldn't. He looked up at the woman and knew exactly what the look she was giving him was telling him, he had given that look to countless women before he had met Haley. He knew that two wrongs didn't make a right, but as far as he was concerned, he had nothing now, and so if this woman was going to place it all on a plate in front of him, well he wasn't going to refuse her. "Let's get out of here; my place is just around the corner." Nathan said as he stood up from the stool, gripping onto the bar for support as he momentarily forgot how much he'd had to drink and walked out of the bar, leading the woman out of there.

~*~

Nathan had just put his key into the door and allowed the woman to walk inside in front of him, before he shut the door and followed her down the corridor. When he got to the end, he found Haley standing there, a look of complete disgust and hurt marring her every feature, and in that moment he felt glad that she was hurting as much as he was. "My room is up the stairs and at the end of the hallway." He said to the woman, not letting his eyes leave Haley. "I'll follow you up." He continued as he heard her footsteps begin to climb the stairs. He breathed in deeply, watching as Haley's eyes followed the woman up the stairs until she had obviously seen enough and then her eyes connected with his. He could see the pain residing in her, and he almost laughed, for he didn't understand how she could be judging him in that moment, not when she had completely broken them apart. He threw his keys down on the side table and shrugged at her before following the woman up the stairs.

"Nathan..."

He stopped as he was halfway up the stairs, hearing Haley calling his name and closed his eyes. He could hear how distraught she was, he knew that she was crying, he knew that she wanted him to turn around and say something to her, maybe explain himself, maybe tell her that it was all some big joke or something. But he couldn't, not when she hadn't stuck to her word, he didn't owe her anything, and he certainly didn't need to give her any reason for his actions. So he took a deep breath, opened his eyes and continued to walk up the stairs, and with a shaky hand, he opened the door to his bedroom and closed it behind him.

**AN – *mentally prepares herself...* **

**Okay. Take a deep breath. Calm down.**

**Please let me know what you thought of the chapter by leaving me a review, and as always, a sneak peek is available if you want it, let me know in your review if you do.**

**And I would strongly encourage you to request the sneak peek of the next chapter...**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN - *slowly lifts head from behind the sofa situated in her living room* **_**is it safe yet?! **_

**Okay, can I just say, oh my gosh! I am like in shock. Seriously. You guys are just killing it with the reviews! To know that you guys feel compelled enough to even read my writing in the first place is enough to shock me, but to then know that you care enough about the storyline to rant and shout, or just offer your comments about what happens in it is just amazing. I feel so grateful to have such wonderful readers and reviewers.**

**I am also feeling the pressure now, especially after the response to the last chapter, but pressure in a good way. Knowing that you guys are out there, especially those of you who leave such amazing comments and reviews, makes me a very happy bunny. I hope you realise how much the reviews and messages you guys leave means to me… it really does make me want to write as well as I can, and honestly makes the hours and hours it takes me to get these chapters ready completely worth it.**

**I know the ending of the last chapter was mean. But it was always going to end that way. I also know that both Nathan and Haley have made mistakes along the way in this story, and maybe you feel that one of them has done more damage than the other, maybe you think they are both as bad as each other, but like I said before, they are not perfect in this fic, far from it, and that's what makes writing this story so much fun for me (and probably torture to read, right?!). There's still a bit of a bumpy road ahead, so I hope you guys bear with me while I try to navigate these characters through the mess that I have created for them.**

**I'm underlining and capitalising this next bit cos I don't want people to miss it.**

**TO THOSE OF YOU WITHOUT ACCOUNTS:**** Guys I feel so horrible. I can't send you guys the sneak peek if you don't have a fanfiction account or even if you just type in your e-mail address in the review. Fanfiction just completely blocks it out of your review, so unless you are sneaky about it, I can't see the e-mail address. I feel so bad that I couldn't send the sneak peek to you all, but I hope you realise that I wasn't ignoring you all completely, it just was physically impossible for me to send it to you!**

**With that said, a few words to each of you without accounts. **Emily – **I know, it's very frustrating that Nathan and Haley keep running into trouble, just when everything is looking up for them! And thank you so much for your kind words! And yes, Tom is freaky! As for High Heels and Blushes… I'm putting some serious thought into a sequel, that's all I'm saying right now, but I'm not promising anything, just know that the thinking cap is on! **RICE – **Yes, Nathan's actions at the end of the last chapter were not smart at all. Maybe he can redeem himself though… **Anon. – **Thank you so much for your lovely words! I'm so pleased you are enjoying all my writing! **Judy – **I hope it's a good thing that you were speechless?! I'm so pleased you are enjoying this story. **Rosa94 – **I know, Nathan was an idiot during the ending of the last chapter. But, maybe he can make up for it somehow… **Ann – **I'm so pleased you are hooked on the story and that you are enjoying it! **Angela – **I'm so happy you are enjoying the story! Nathan and Haley will get there, eventually… And I know, I wasn't happy writing the last bit the chapter! **Daize – **I'm glad you like the twist, and yes, it is a little bit twisted! I'm glad you're excited for the rest of the story; I'm excited to write it! **Keeta – **Aw, I'm so pleased you enjoyed the chapter. Yes, Nathan was incredibly stupid to bring the woman back to the apartment… **Lotti190 – **I'm so pleased you are enjoying the storyline, and I hope you like this next chapter. **Tracy – **So pleased you liked the chapter, I can't wait to write the office sex chapter!! **laydeelightning **– Sorry about the wait in updating and I'm so pleased you are enjoying the story, hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**I just got back from an amazing holiday; I'm feeling very relaxed and have a lovely tan so I'm happy! And I even managed to get a bit of writing done! **

**Right, I think I need to shut up now and get on with the chapter. **

**Major, major thanks go to a couple of special girls, Rebecca for reading through this chapter for me (honey, our MSN chats are absolutely epic – gotta love the tennis!) as well as to Kelly who also lent me her fabulous eyes for this chapter, and Kristen who also read through it for me too! Thanks guys! **

**This is quite a heavy chapter, but nonetheless, I hope you all enjoy it…**

**Chapter Sixteen**

Haley bit down on her bottom lip as she watched Nathan climb up the stairs. She started panicking, and found herself completely unsure as to what she should do. Should she let him go up there? Should she grab him, yell at him, beg him to stop? She didn't know, so as she was in a complete jumble, she just called out his name, realising that she needed to do something to stop him, she couldn't let him do this to them, not now. And in those couple of seconds where he had stopped once she had called out his name, her heart raced, for she had thought that he was going to turn around and tell her that he was playing around with her. That was what she hoped he would do, that was the only thing that was keeping her standing there expectantly, praying that this wasn't about to happen. But all her hopes of having Nathan realise that he was about to make a huge mistake were quashed in the instant that he started to walk further up the stairs, away from her and towards that whore that he had brought home to their apartment, which only led to the feeling of her heart constricting in her chest incredibly painfully, she could literally feel it breaking.

She didn't know what the hell was going on, she had no idea what had possessed Nathan to do something so hurtful, especially after she thought that everything had been cleared up between them both last night, and particularly after she had managed to get a hold of Tom and end things with him. She was finally ready to really move things forward with Nathan, ready to give herself completely to him. But as she bent her head down to the ground she realised that everything had changed now.

She staggered backwards until she was leaning against the wall in the hallway and closed her eyes as she tried desperately to stop any more tears from falling, but it was useless. She wiped frantically at her cheeks, realising that her hands were now soaked with her tears. She knew she should be feeling absolutely furious at Nathan, but all she was feeling was confused, hurt and absolutely crushed by him.

She didn't understand what he was doing. Nothing she could come up with seemed to add up. The only rational, albeit preposterous idea that she could decipher was the thought that Nathan never really wanted her in the first place, and that this really was just a big game to him. She knew that she'd already had these ideas before, with Carly, and she knew that he had managed to redeem himself that time. But this time it was different, this was a stranger that he had picked up somewhere, she was sure of it, and the tone in his voice, the way that he had spoken to her, left no doubt in Haley's mind that he really was going to sleep with her. So this time, for Haley, he really had gone too far. And even if this all ending up being a big joke, insinuating that he was about to have sex with someone was just too much for her to take. And plus, the look that he had given her when he had walked into the apartment was so cold and uncaring, she had barely recognised him. And who knows, maybe that was the real Nathan she had just seen, a man who enjoyed breaking people's hearts, maybe that was the way that he got his kicks out of life, she honestly didn't know, she felt like she didn't have a clue who he really was anymore.

She was struggling to breathe as she considered the thought that everything he had told her could be, or rather was, a lie. He had seemed so genuine, so caring, and she felt like a complete and utter fool for taking the bait and falling one hundred percent for his Casanova act. Deep down she really didn't want to believe that Nathan was like that, she didn't like to think of him as being that deceitful, but what else was there to think? Nothing else made sense. Why else would he choose tonight of all nights to bring a woman back to the apartment, the very same night that they were supposed to start a future together with absolutely nothing in their way. Wasn't this what they had both been waiting for?

However, she was soon jolted out of her reverie when she heard Nathan's bedroom door click shut. Images of what he was about to do came to the forefront of her mind. Flashes of him and that whore wrapped up around each other were dancing in her head, taunting her, reminding her of what she would never have again. She quickly opened her eyes and banished those thoughts from her mind. She was suffocating, torturing herself by being here while he was doing that. She had to get out of there. Without a second thought she grabbed her bag and raced out of the front door, feeling absolutely sick to the stomach. How the hell could he do this to her?

~*~

Nathan rested his forehead against the door once he had shut it behind him. His eyes were shut tightly, his fists were clenched against the door beside his face and his breathing was completely erratic and out of control. Haley's voice was echoing inside of his head, and he tried desperately not to concentrate on it, he tried to push all thoughts of her completely out of his mind, for he shouldn't care about how she was feeling right now, not when she had ruined absolutely everything between them. He sighed to himself though as he realised that he did care. And despite trying as hard as he could, he couldn't shake the tone of her voice calling his name as he walked up the stairs from his head, pleading with him to stop and come back to her. It was taunting him, reminding him of how much he had hurt her by bringing the woman back to the apartment.

He let out a long sigh and opened his eyes, but he didn't move from his position at the door. He felt completely betrayed by Haley, after everything she had promised him, after convincing him that everything was going to be okay between them both, she had gone and let her bastard of a boyfriend talk her right into getting back together with him, something that he had feared would happen ever since she had first told him that she was going to break up with him. He pounded his fist against the door in complete and utter anger at letting himself become this dependant on her, for allowing Haley to have this much control over him. It just wasn't like him to be this way, he didn't know how or why he allowed her to have this hold over him, but he couldn't think of a way to snap out of the ties she had knotted him in.

It was then that he felt the woman's presence behind him. She was talking to him, but her words weren't registering in his brain, her voice just sounded fuzzy and incoherent to him. He continued to breathe in deeply, taking in a sharp gulp of air when he felt the woman run her hands down his arms to where his fists were clasped together on the door and then he felt her body press into him from behind, and he cringed at the completely unfamiliar feeling of this woman's body being pushed up against his own. He automatically tried to move away from her, but he already has his body flush against the door, so she was effectively trapping him in, and he had nowhere to go.

He closed his eyes as he felt her hands move back up his arms and he tried to make sense of what he was doing, he tried to rationalise his actions. He was immensely pissed off at Haley, he knew that much. But did that mean that he should just jump into bed with the first random woman who shows him a tiny bit of interest? Was sleeping with this woman actually going to make him feel any better? Could he really do that to himself, to Haley?

All of a sudden, his eyes flashed open and he shook the woman off him, recoiling completely from her touch. He felt dirty, having her hands on him, he didn't want her touching him, the only person that should be touching him was downstairs crying because he had been a selfish bastard and wanted to watch her suffer as much as he was. And despite the fact that he felt completely broken by her, he had to talk to her, he had to understand what the hell was going on, he needed to know what had made her change her mind so suddenly. He had to know if there was something he could do to sway her decision because he was in love with her, and if he had to endure a thousand knock backs, then he was going to, he could handle it, especially if it meant that there was even the smallest possibility that she would change her mind if he tried that one more time. He couldn't live in the world of 'what ifs', he knew that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't at least try.

And so, with renewed determination, Nathan pulled open the door to his bedroom as quickly as he could and raced along the corridor, checking Haley's room on the way, finding it empty, before he ran down the stairs looking for her. "Haley!" He called out as he ran into the lounge, the dining room, the spare bedroom, all the while wondering where the hell she was. He then walked into the kitchen and realised that she wasn't there. "Shit!" Nathan shouted to the empty room as he punched the door to the kitchen with such brute force, the wood split. What the fuck was he supposed to do now?

~*~

Haley was wandering aimlessly, not having a clue where she was and not really caring. She still couldn't shake those images of Nathan being with that woman from her mind, despite trying desperately hard to, for that was the last thing that she wanted to be thinking about right now. She wrapped her arms around herself and realised that she was freezing cold, but she didn't really feel it, so she continued walking in the darkness, searching for something to help ease the pain that she was feeling, nothing had ever hurt her this much before.

She heard her phone ringing in her bag but she didn't move to pick it up, she didn't want to talk to anybody, in fact, she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be able to talk to anyone, not when she couldn't even think clearly, not when her mind was as jumbled as it was right now. She looked around and tried to place where she was, when the reality of the fact that it was extremely late and dark settled on her and she realised that she appeared to be in a park. She turned around and spotted an empty bench so she walked over to it and placed herself on it. She laid her bag on the seat next to her and brought her legs up so that she was clutching onto them and once more tried to make some sense out of what had happened tonight.

With her chin resting on her knees, she tried to think of what may have triggered Nathan to do something so sinister and cruel. Because deep down, she knew that he was a good person, and that he cared about her, he loved her, didn't he? At least that was what she so desperately wanted to believe, despite the evidence of tonight trying to prove her otherwise. She didn't want to think that everything he had said to her had been a farce, a lie, because he meant so much to her, it would completely shatter her if it were true.

She heard her phone ringing once again and just like all the other times her phone had been ringing tonight, she ignored the call and let it run to voicemail. She was trying to rationalise her thoughts for she was so confused, one side of her brain was telling her that something had gone wrong, that there was some big misunderstanding and that Nathan hadn't meant to do what he had. But the louder part of her brain was shouting at her to face the facts, Nathan never really wanted a full on relationship with her, and that just as they were about to embark on a relationship together that meant something, he had tried to hurt her to make sure that whatever they had was over before it had even really started. But after everything they had been through together, after everything they had shared and said to each other, she didn't want to believe that it was over. What they had was too special to be ruined.

She was then jolted out of her thoughts when she heard her phone beeping at her, letting her know that another voicemail message was waiting for her. But she didn't listen to it. She was too absorbed in trying to see through the fog, she desperately wanted things to start making sense, she hated all these shades of grey. She was rerunning all the events of the last two nights in her head, looking for something that might indicate why Nathan had turned his back on their relationship. But nothing she could come up with warranted him bringing what she could only describe as a complete slut back to their home and flaunting the fact that he was going to have sex with her right in her face. She felt her bottom lip begin to tremble and she bit down on it, trying to stifle the sobs she could feel building up inside of her, but they were too strong for her to ignore, so she buried her head between her legs and her chest and cried.

~*~

Nathan slammed his phone down on the counter top where he was sitting in the kitchen. He had been trying to call Haley for the past half an hour, and each time he did, her phone rang right through to voicemail. So he would leave a message each time, and then call her right back, hoping that this time she would answer. But so far she hadn't. He felt like such a bastard for doing what he had to her, even after what he had seen earlier on, seeing her boyfriend kiss her neck, he still had no right to do that to her, to bring someone back to their home right when he knew that she would be there, waiting for him, and make her think that he was going to sleep with her. Hell it was only until the last minute that he had thought that he was going to go through with it himself. He knew that what he had done was low, and so far below the belt, it was wrong, plain and simple. So why the hell he had done it in the first place was just beyond him.

And now he was worried about Haley. Not just because he was concerned at the fact that he may have completely ruined any chance he had at ever being with her again, but he was also incredibly anxious as to her whereabouts, he was worried about her safety. He looked up at the clock and saw that it was half past one in the morning, and he had absolutely no idea where she was. He knew that he couldn't just sit here, and he had thought about going outside and start to look for her himself, but in a city this size, he could be looking for a week and get absolutely nowhere, so he decided to stay put and wait for her to come home, which he knew she had to do sometime. He sighed to himself as he grabbed his phone and called her again, hoping that this time she would pick up, even if it was to tell him to get lost, at least he would know that she was okay.

Not surprisingly, Haley's phone rang right through to voicemail yet again, and so he left yet another message, asking her to call him. He hung up with a heavy sigh and placed his phone down on the counter next to him. He ran his hands through his hair, as if he was trying to wipe the slate clean and start today off all over again. He would make sure that he worked from home so that he could ensure that Haley would never meet with her boyfriend at their apartment, and that if she did, well he would do all that he could to convince her that he was the right choice, that what they had was so special and that he loved her with all his heart, he loved her more than anyone on the planet ever could. Because he did, and nothing could change how he felt about her. And obviously, he would never bring anyone back to their home. That had been a mistake of epic proportions. That had been a mistake which could ultimately be the thing that breaks them completely and he couldn't live with himself if that were the case. So he was going to do all he could to explain his actions, he was going to get Haley to talk to him, and he was going to make sure that she damn well listened to him too.

He was trying to formulate a foolproof plan, one that would, for certain, allow him to be with Haley again; when he heard the footsteps start to move down the stairs. He clenched his fists as he realised that it was the woman he had picked up at the bar. He had completely forgotten that she was still in the apartment and he found that he was filled with absolute rage at how stupid he had been to even consider being able to do anything with anyone but Haley, and so before he knew what he was doing, he jumped up from where he was sitting and stomped through into the hallway, just in time for the woman to have finished descending the stairs. He couldn't even look at her, for it was just another reminder of how foolish he had been. "Get the hell out of my apartment." He shouted as he pointed in the direction of the front door. He turned his head briefly and saw that she wore that same devilish grin that she'd had on at the bar, and that incensed him even more, for she couldn't possibly think that anything was going to happen between them now, not after what he had been through that evening, she was absolutely crazy. "Now!" He roared at her, before grabbing her arm and walking her to the front door himself. He opened up the door and threw her out of his home, before slamming the door shut behind him. He then leant against the door and sunk to the floor with his head in his hands, he really had no idea what the hell was going on right now.

~*~

Haley had started wandering again. She knew that she needed to go home; she knew that she couldn't stay out here all night, but she felt safer and more comfortable being out here alone than she would if she were to go home, where Nathan and his slut were. She didn't want to be slapped in the face with the reminder of what Nathan had done to them, even though the images were still running through her mind, it was better for her to be away from the apartment. She wondered how long she had been out, and also wondered how much longer she should stay out. She didn't want to hear Nathan and that woman doing anything, so she was going to make sure that she had given him enough time to do whatever the hell he was doing with her. She once again felt like she was going to be sick as she thought about it again. What the hell had happened to them? Where was her Nathan, the Nathan who told her that he loved her, the Nathan who had said that he couldn't live without her?

Eventually she decided that enough was enough. She was going to go home, and if she so much as heard a peek out of Nathan and his whore, well she was going to go absolutely ballistic. That was allowed right? You were supposed to respect your roommates, weren't you? And there it was again, the reference that their relationship was completely over, and the realisation that they were now nothing more than roommates sharing an apartment. She felt her eyes brim with tears again as she continued to walk back to the apartment, and she tried to blink them away, but they fell anyway. And this time she let them fall, doing nothing to wipe their traces from her face, what was the point?

She soon found herself outside of the front door to the apartment and she took a deep breath before she placed her key in the door. She had no idea what the hell she would find once she walked inside, and she was really anxious about opening the door. She knew it was silly, this was her home too, but she really didn't want to see anything. She took another deep breath before she twisted her key and opened the door. If she saw Nathan, she was going to go crazy; she knew that she wouldn't be able to help what spewed out of her mouth. And he would deserve every word. She didn't care if his whore was around to see it. It would do her good to know what a complete asshole he really was.

Nathan startled when he heard the noise of a key twisting in the door and he raced out into the hallway from the kitchen where he had resumed his constant telephone calls to Haley's phone. His breathing was once again completely erratic and out of control as he waited for Haley to come inside. He had to get her to listen to him, he had to explain what was going through his mind, he needed her to know what he had seen earlier and he wanted her to explain what the hell was going on. But most of all, he needed to apologise to her for bringing that woman back to their home. As soon as the door swung open, he walked towards her, but stopped immediately when he looked at her. She was a complete mess. She looked frozen solid and her hair was a tangled muddle hanging loosely from a pony tail. Her cheeks were covered in tearstains and as he lifted his gaze up to her eyes, he could see more threatening to fall. And in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to just wrap her up in his arms and soothe away all her pain. Because that was what she looked like, she looked completely and utterly hurt, and he knew that it was all because of what he had done, and he felt like an absolute shit.

Haley stopped as soon as the door opened, her heart was beating frantically in her chest as she saw Nathan walking towards her from the other end of the corridor, until thankfully he stopped, and all that anguish came rushing right back through her. She bit down on her lip again, trying to control her emotions, for she didn't want him to see her crying, she really didn't want him to know how hurt she was, even though she was sure that it was pretty obvious. She lifted her gaze and her eyes connected with his, and in that moment, she could see the real Nathan, her Nathan, looking right back at her, with love and wanting in his eyes. And that upset her even more, for how could he change so much, going from completely cold from the last time that she had seen him, to how he was right now. Any thoughts of shouting and screaming at him were long gone; she was too hurt to even do that. She wanted nothing more than to just curl up into a ball and be left alone.

Nathan decided in that moment to go to her, he didn't care that he had seen her with her boyfriend, he didn't care that he had a right to be pissed at her too, because all he wanted was to hold her. He knew that she was everything to him, and he was going to make her see that it was the same for her too, wasn't that what she had said to him just last night? Those feelings couldn't have changed so drastically in the space of a few hours, could they? But as he started to walk towards her, he watched her face twist in even more pain, and he watched the tears fall from her eyes as she recoiled away from him, and that hurt him more than anything else. The realisation right then for Nathan was the fact that she didn't want him. He watched as she held her hands up in front of her, trying to keep the distance between them, but he didn't want that, he wanted her to be in his arms, he needed her, and he needed to make sure that she was okay. So he decided to step forward once more.

"Nathan don't, please." Haley managed to choke out in a strangled cry that was laced with pain as she stepped away from him once again. She couldn't be around him right now, all thoughts of confronting him and questioning his actions were now so far from her mind, because all she could think about was him being with that woman just hours ago. She could see that he wanted to comfort her, but she didn't want comfort from his arms, arms that had been wrapped around someone else, it just wasn't right.

Nathan's brow furrowed as he realised that she really didn't want him. And he felt so rejected. He could see that she just wanted to walk past him and so he took a deep breath as he put his hands up in front of his chest, stepping to the side so that he was against the wall, letting her know that he was going to let her walk past without him touching her, and as soon as he had stepped out of the way, she scurried past him and started to run up the stairs to her bedroom. And Nathan let her go because if she wanted space, then he was going to give it to her. He heard her door close quietly and he banged his head against the wall, hoping to knock some sense into himself. How fucking stupid had he been?

Half an hour later, Nathan decided that it was time he went to bed. He hadn't heard any noise coming from upstairs, and so he decided to check on Haley before he went to his room. He just wanted to know that she was okay. He knocked on her door and heard some shuffling from inside but she didn't answer. "Haley." Nathan said softly as he waited for her to open the door for him. But after a minute had passed, he realised that she still didn't want to talk to him. He sighed heavily and placed his hand on the door. "I'm so sorry." He whispered before he walked down the corridor and shut himself in his room, hating the feeling of complete unease that was enveloping him. He had absolutely no idea where he and Haley stood right now.

~*~

Haley hadn't slept at all and she was feeling incredibly frustrated with herself. Every time she closed her eyes, all she could see Nathan and that slut together and it was driving her insane and making her feel even worse than she already did. So in an effort to stop the images from forming in her head, she decided to not close her eyes. She knew that even if she had closed her eyes though, she wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway, given the way her mind was moving at about a million miles an hour. She felt dizzy with all the thoughts that were running through her head and she just couldn't make an ounce of sense out of any of them. She was still feeling incredibly hurt over what Nathan did, and the worst part of it all was that she just didn't understand why he had done it. And there was a part of her that wasn't sure if she ever wanted to know why he had decided to bring that woman back to their home. Would it hurt her even more if she knew the truth behind his actions?

She groaned as she thought about that woman once more and stared at the clock which sat on her bedside table, seeing that it was already five o'clock in the morning. She knew that it was pointless for her to just lie in bed and so she decided to get ready and get into work early, she could start making up some of the time that she had taken off over the past couple of days. And besides, maybe if she busied herself with work her mind might become too preoccupied to think about Nathan, at least that's what she hoped would happen. She tumbled out of bed and walked into the bathroom, switched on the shower and chose her clothes for the day, before she stepped under the water.

Once she had dressed, she stepped out of her bedroom and glanced down the corridor to Nathan's room. The door was still firmly closed, and Haley had no idea if that slut was still in the bedroom with him, or whether he'd chucked her out once he had finished whatever he had been doing with her. She shook her head at herself, for it really didn't matter either way, did it? He had done what he had and she needed to accept it for what it was. She couldn't be moping around at work all day; she would have to save her tears for when she was alone. She took a deep breath and steadied herself as she walked downstairs. She walked into the kitchen and noticed that the door had split, she raised her eyebrow at it, wondering what could have possibly caused that, but then quickly stopped that train of thought, for the first image that came to her mind was Nathan slamming that whore up against the door with her legs wrapped around his waist. She shook her head and walked into the kitchen, trying to bury that clenching feeling she could feel in her stomach and poured herself some coffee, taking a few sips and then placed the mug in the sink before leaving the apartment, pleased that this morning she hadn't had to face Nathan, she didn't think she would have been able to hold it together if she had seen him.

~*~

Nathan awoke to the sound of his alarm ringing wildly in his ears. As soon as he hit the off button, memories of last night came rushing back to him. He groaned as he remembered every last detail, but the one image that bore into him the most was the hurt look Haley had given him once she had returned to the apartment after she had disappeared for a while. He sighed at his own stupidity and got out of bed, taking a shower before changing into his suit and then he ran downstairs. He desperately wanted a chance to talk to Haley and so he decided that he would fix them both some breakfast in the hope that she would give him a chance to explain why he had done what he had. He knew that she had some explaining to do as well, but the only thing that was important to him at the moment was getting the opportunity to apologise to Haley, and also to let her know that nothing had happened between him and that woman. Everything else could wait.

He walked into the kitchen and sighed to himself when he saw the broken door and he made a mental note to call someone who could fix it later on today. He then pulled out two coffee cups and started to move over to the coffee machine. It was then that he noticed the empty coffee cup in the sink, and when he touched the coffee machine, he found that it was still warm, and it was then that he realised that Haley had already been downstairs. He craned his neck and looked down the hallway and couldn't see her handbag where it usually was first thing in the morning, on the side table, so that confirmed the fact that she had already left for work for the day. He closed his eyes for a brief second, trying to calm himself down. He was angry at the fact that he had missed a perfectly good opportunity to talk to her. Now he was going to have all this shit hanging over him all day because he wouldn't be alone with her until they both came home after work. Well one thing was for certain, he was going to make sure that he spoke to her tonight, even if she didn't want to, he was going to make damn sure that she listened to him like he had promised himself earlier, he couldn't take her thinking that he had done something with that woman, he had to let her know that what he had done was a mistake, he had to apologise to her.

~*~

As soon as Haley walked into work, Lucas accosted her and asked her to come into his office for a meeting. She sighed as she took a seat at the table inside his office, unsure as to why he was calling this meeting so early in the morning, as she already had a thousand and one things on her mind without having to worry about whatever he had to tell her on top of it all. She waited for Luke to close the door and then watched as he took a seat opposite her, hoping that he wasn't about to tell her something serious, all she wanted to do today were mundane tasks which would keep her head busy but require little or no thinking.

"Haley, you know that I think you do a wonderful job as my assistant." Lucas started once he had sat down at the table with her.

Haley could feel herself getting nervous. Was he firing her? God she couldn't take being fired from a job that she loved so much within the same twenty-four hours that she had witnessed Nathan going to his bedroom with another woman. What had she done to make Lucas not want her to work for him anymore? She racked her brains for something but all she could come up with was the fact that she had left early the past two days. "Lucas, I know that I haven't been working my hours but I have come in early today to make them up…" Haley started but stopped when she saw Lucas laughing at her, and she found herself feeling incredibly confused as to what he was doing.

"Haley, I'm not going to fire you, please don't worry about that, and I know that you will make up the hours, it's not a problem for you to flex them at all, I already told you that." Lucas said with a chuckle as he shook her head at how she could possibly think that he wanted to get rid of her. "I wanted to talk to you about a new opportunity that has arisen."

"Oh." Haley responded, finding herself in complete shock, she really hadn't been expecting him to say something like that at all. "What kind of an opportunity?" She asked curiously.

Lucas smiled at her, pleased that she wasn't as flustered as she had been when she had first walked into his office. "It's a promotion. I want you to take a step up and start to learn more about the business Haley. I want you to start working closer with me in deciding where to invest our money, as well as developing relationships with clients." Lucas explained. "I know how hard you work Haley and I can see a long future for you here."

Haley was completely taken aback. "Wow, I don't know what to say."

"Well I hope you'll say yes!" Lucas said with a laugh.

"Of course!" Haley said with a smile, before she furrowed her brow. "This isn't because of the whole Nathan and the apartment situation is it?" Haley asked quickly before she lost her nerve. Her career meant a lot to her, and she didn't want a pity or a guilt promotion, she wanted to be promoted because of her hard work and determination, so she needed to make sure that Lucas was doing this for the right reasons.

Lucas shook his head at her, despite all that had happened recently, he had seen something in Haley a long time ago, and that was why he didn't want to lose her as his employee. "Haley, I was afraid that you would think that. I'm promoting you because I see potential in you and because I know that you can do so much more than just being my assistant. I want to offer you challenges with your work and I don't feel that your current role is providing enough of that."

Haley looked up at Lucas and could tell that he meant it, and she smiled at him. "Well in that case, of course I want to do it!"

"Good." Lucas smiled back at her. "We'll sort it all out formally next week. Don't tell anyone about it yet, we'll make the formal announcement later on in the week." He said as he looked at his watch. "Right now I have a meeting to run too, I think I'm out most of the day, are you good with things to do?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, I have a list to keep me busy." Haley answered as she followed Lucas out of his office, feeling slightly better about the day now that she had received some good news.

"Good, well we have a client evening that is being held here tonight, I think it will be good for you to attend and start meeting some of our key clients, you know, get your name out there." Lucas said as he walked Haley back to her desk.

"That sounds good." Haley returned as she placed herself in her seat and turned her computer on.

"Okay, well I'll give you more details about it later on this afternoon, as well as pointing out who I think would be good for you to mingle with, but right now, I need to get going." Lucas finished as he started to run across the office to the elevators, waving back at Haley as he did so.

~*~

Nathan sat in his office twiddling a pen between his fingers. He hadn't been concentrating at all because all he could think about was Haley, and the need to talk to her. He was trying to give her some space but it was driving him insane having all of this hanging over him, especially as he had no idea as to where he and Haley stood right now. So as he once again glanced at the clock and realised that it wasn't even lunchtime yet, he knew that enough was enough, and that he had to try to call her. He picked up his work phone and dialled her extension, praying that she would pick up, hoping that she was at her desk.

"Scott Investment Management, Haley speaking." Haley said as she answered her ringing telephone, grabbing a pen and a piece of paper so that she could take a message, given that the call was probably going to be for Lucas. For some reason, his phone had been ringing non-stop all morning, which she was pleased about because it was keeping her busy, keeping her brain away from Nathan.

"Haley, it's me." Nathan said as he closed her eyes at hearing her voice speaking to him. It was funny how much he missed it when he knew that she didn't want to talk to him, and he couldn't help the small smile that crept over his face given that he was finally hearing it in a more normal, Haley like way.

_Shit! _Haley thought to herself. She bit down on her lip as soon as she heard his voice. Why was he calling her? She really didn't want to talk to him, not yet, not when she hadn't had a chance to organise her own thoughts on this mess that he had created. She knew how much power he had over her, he would be able to get her to do whatever he wanted if she talked to him before she had thought properly about it and she didn't want that, she wanted to make her own decisions about this. "Nathan I don't want to talk to you yet." Haley replied quietly.

_Yet. _Nathan thought to himself, she said she didn't want to talk to him yet. That was a good thing right, yet meant that she had the intention of talking to him sometime. He sighed at the thought of having to deal with all this shit hanging over him for the rest of the afternoon but at least there was some light at the end of the tunnel, they would be able to talk about this properly tonight, wouldn't they? "Okay, but we'll talk tonight, right?" Nathan asked in a pleading tone, she had to know that this was killing him.

"No, I'm busy tonight; I won't be back until late." Haley responded vaguely, knowing that she couldn't tell Nathan about the meeting she was attending with Lucas tonight, he had asked her not to tell anyone about her promotion.

Nathan could feel the confusion and anger begin to well up inside of him. _Busy doing what? _He wanted to ask her. The only thing that he could come up with was the fact that she was busy seeing her boyfriend, and that thought incensed him even more, especially when he was so devastated about what had happened between them and she had seemingly decided to just go out with her boyfriend. However, he knew that it wouldn't be wise for him to get angry at her on the phone, not when he had so much that he wanted to discuss with her, and so he took some deep breaths before speaking to her again, trying to calm himself down. "Okay well maybe if you're not too late we can talk later?" He asked, hating how needy he sounded but he knew that there wasn't any other way for him to sound right now. He was needy, he needed her.

"Maybe." Haley responded, wanting nothing more than to just get off the phone with him, he was starting to make her head spin wildly again and she felt like she had started to regain some control of that before he had called her. "I have to go, I have work to do."

"Okay." Nathan said, not knowing what else to say, he didn't want to say goodbye to her, he missed her voice so much.

"Bye." Haley said before hanging up the phone and breathing a huge sigh of relief that she had managed to talk to him civilly at least.

Nathan didn't say anything, he just sighed in despair as he hung up the phone. He needed to talk to her so badly and she wasn't cooperating at all, which he didn't think was a good sign, not at all.

~*~

Nathan had just gone out to grab some lunch and was stepping out of the elevator onto his floor, when he bumped into his brother. "Hey Luke." He greeted him as he moved out of the way so that everyone who needed to get inside could do so.

"Hey Nate, I'm glad I caught you, I wanted to tell you something." Lucas said as he motioned to his brother that they needed to talk in private, away from prying ears.

Nathan followed Lucas into one of the free meeting rooms which was just around the corner to the elevator and watched as he closed the door. He was mildly confused as to what Lucas wanted to talk to him about, he didn't appear to be angry at him, in fact he seemed rather excited about something, which immediately made Nathan relax as he decided that his brother still hadn't got a clue about his and Haley's relationship. "So what's up?" He asked.

"It's about Haley." Lucas started.

_Oh shit. _Nathan thought in a complete panic. He gulped as he straightened his suit, suddenly feeling incredibly hot as he wondering how the hell his brother could firstly have found out about his and Haley's relationship given that they didn't seem to be together at the moment anyway and secondly why he appeared to be so happy about it. It just didn't make sense. His brain was running up all kinds of excuses that he could potentially use to lead his brother astray from the truth, when he was jolted from his thoughts by Lucas speaking to him again.

"I've promoted her, I hope that's okay?" Lucas asked.

_Thank fucking God! _Nathan thought to himself as he released the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. "Of course that's okay, I'm sure she deserves it." Nathan said with a smile.

"She does. Sorry I didn't go down the formal route and all…" Lucas said.

"No problems." Nathan replied with a smile. "Was that all?" He asked hesitantly, praying that it was.

"Yes, I'm making the formal announcement later this week." Lucas responded.

"Good, well I need to eat this before it gets cold." Nathan said as he gestured to his panini.

"And I have a meeting to get to. It's non-stop for me today." Lucas said as he opened the door and walked out of the meeting room with his brother following behind, completely oblivious to the dread his brother had been feeling at the thought of his relationship with Haley being exposed.

~*~

Haley had been trying to keep herself busy, she had plenty to do after leaving early for the past two nights but her mind was more than a little preoccupied. Although she was pleased with her promotion, she couldn't feel as happy about it as she wanted to because she felt like she was on autopilot, she was working but she wasn't thinking, she was choosing to do all the boring and easy and easy tasks today, for she knew that her brain was all but useless for anything that required actual thinking. Why waste time doing something that she would only have to repeat once she finally managed to get her brain in gear? She glanced at Lucas' calendar and saw that he was out of the office for most of the afternoon in meetings with various clients, and also had a couple of site visits with Carly, which she was grateful for, as she didn't want him to see how unproductive she was being, if he did he may want to rethink the whole promotion. She printed off the pile of research she had been doing into development opportunities and then walked into Lucas' office, placing the papers on his desk before turning around to walk back out to her desk, when she gasped at seeing Nathan closing the door behind him. She looked around the office frantically, finding that she had absolutely no escape from him. She felt all those emotions that she had been trying to keep at bay ever since she had run up the stairs last night come rushing back to her now that she had finally seen him, and once again all she felt was completely hurt and betrayed by him. She could already feel the tears beginning to well in her eyes. She hugged her arms around herself protectively and looked at everything in the office, well everything but him. She couldn't bring herself to do that just yet.

Nathan closed the door behind him and turned around to face Haley. He had seen her walk into Lucas' office moments ago, and he knew that his brother was tied up in meetings all afternoon, so this seemed like the prime opportunity to talk things over with her. He couldn't wait until this evening to talk to her; he couldn't have all this hanging over him for a second longer. And besides, as mean as it was, it wasn't like she could scream and shout at him while they were in the office, so it was much safer for him to explain everything to her here, where she would have no choice but to listen to him. He looked over at her and could see her eyes darting at anything and everything, except him and he watched as she wrapped her arms across her chest and stepped back, creating yet more distance between them, which was something he didn't want. He took a deep breath and decided to begin. "Congratulations on your promotion." He said with a smile, hoping that she would be happy about it and that it would give him a chance to follow through the conversation to what he really wanted them to talk about.

Haley frowned as she glanced up at him. She didn't think that anyone was supposed to know about that yet. As she continued to think about it, the doubt crept in and the thought that he had masterminded the whole thing as a way of buttering her up wouldn't leave her head. "Was that all your idea?" She asked him, hurt by the fact that if it were true then Lucas had been lying to her as well.

"What?" Nathan asked, perplexed as to what she was going on about. Was what his idea?

"The promotion, was it your way of saying you're sorry to me about what happened last night?" Haley said bitterly. "Cos if is then I don't fucking want it."

"No, not at all Haley, I didn't have a clue about it until Lucas told me he'd done it at lunchtime today." Nathan told her.

Haley continued to look at him and she could tell that he wasn't lying to her. And as soon as she had confirmed it she nodded her head and then looked away again, wondering what he was still doing here, silently pleading with him to just let her leave the small space he had trapped them both in. She didn't want to do this yet, she hadn't had enough time.

Nathan sighed deeply as he watched her begin to recoil from him yet again, and took another deep breath before talking to her. That hadn't been how he had wanted the start of their conversation to go, but never mind, they were in the same room and she wasn't throwing things at him, which was a good sign. "Haley, I..." He started.

Hearing his voice, hearing him try to begin to explain his actions caused Haley to grow absolutely furious at him. How dare he do something like that, and then think that he can just explain it with a few chaste words. It didn't work like that, not after him doing something so cruel. "No Nathan. You don't get to do what you did and then just think that you can corner me in some office and get away with explaining yourself. What you did..." She said angrily but got cut off by Nathan interrupting her.

"What I did, Haley, was wrong. I brought a woman back to our home and I know that was low and I shouldn't have done it. But nothing happened." He replied, trying to start explaining his actions.

Haley scoffed. "You really think that I am going to believe that nothing happened? I saw you, Nathan, I saw you walk up those stairs after that woman." Haley screamed as she pointed at some imaginary stairs to the left of the office. "I tried to get you to stop, to tell me what the hell you were doing, but you continued to walk away from me without a word. I heard your bedroom door close. So don't you dare expect me to fall for that shit. I know something happened." She shouted at him, before taking in a deep breath.

Nathan closed his eyes, realising that this was going to be a lot harder than he had first thought, before opening them again. "Haley I swear to you nothing happened. As soon as I got in that bedroom..." He began, his voice laced with conviction and honesty.

"Spare me the details of your sordid night Nathan; I really don't need to know." Haley cut him off sharply as once again those images sprung right back into her mind of that whore's legs wrapped around his waist. She felt the tears begin to fall down her cheeks as she swiped at them angrily. She was furious at Nathan for making her feel like this, but she was also angry with herself for letting him see just how hurt she was over it all.

"I didn't even touch her!" Nathan shouted back to her, eager to get her to believe him. He was so frustrated with all this, so annoyed that Haley would believe that he had slept with someone else, despite what it had looked like, she should trust him. She should be able to know that he was being honest with her.

Haley just shook her head at him and bit down on her lip. Was she really supposed to believe that nothing had happened? Was he being honest with her? She didn't have a clue what was going on at the moment, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know either.

"Nothing happened." Nathan affirmed again in a pleading tone, begging for her to believe him.

Haley continued to shake her head at him as the tears fell down her face. She looked down at the floor and couldn't fathom what had provoked him to do something so evil. Even if he was being truthful and nothing had happened, the thought was still there wasn't it, otherwise why on earth would he have brought her back to the apartment, why the hell would he direct her to his room? Why would he even consider doing something like that? Ideas and thoughts were swirling through her mind, and she couldn't grasp onto any one of them because they were moving so quickly through her head. But she had to know. "Why?" She asked him quietly, a silent sob escaping from her lips as she continued to stare at the floor.

Nathan was still looking at her, even though she was choosing to look at the floor still and he hated how much he was hurting her, but if she wanted to know why he had done it, well he was going to tell her. Surely once she knew his reasoning she wouldn't be so upset at him. "I was angry at you." He said.

Haley's head snapped up and she looked confused as hell. "What the fuck did I do to deserve that kind of treatment from you?" She asked angrily.

"I think you know Haley." Nathan replied as he thought back to how he found Haley being kissed by that bastard boyfriend of hers. He clenched his fists as the fury of her allowing him to touch her like that in their home rushed through him uncontrollably.

Haley racked her brains for what she could have done to piss Nathan off so much that he would want to hurt her so deeply, but she came up with absolutely nothing. As far as she was concerned, she had kept to her side of the deal, she had broken up with Tom before Nathan came back from work. She had been waiting for him, just like they agreed. So she quickly decided that he was being an absolute asshole and so she decided to call him up on it. "Bullshit Nathan. I hadn't done anything to deserve that shit from you. And I hope you realise that you have completely ruined us." She shouted at him with a shaky voice. If he was going to lay all his shit on something that she had supposedly done, well she wasn't going to allow him to. This was his doing, his fault and he needed to take full responsibility for it.

At hearing her words, hearing Haley say that they were ruined, that it was his entire fault, he just couldn't control himself. "I ruined us?" He roared at her. "You are laying all of this on me?" He asked her as he gestured between them both with his hand.

Haley clenched her teeth together and wrapped her arms protectively around herself, startled slightly by the increased volume of Nathan's voice. "You bring another woman back to our apartment, have sex with her and think that we can carry on as before?" Haley asked incredulously. How he could think that everything could be okay between them after he had done that was just unbelievable. "Well we just can't Nathan, not after you do something like that. It's unforgivable."

Nathan ran his incredibly shaky hand through his hair while he shook his head at the crazy situation he now found himself in. "How many times do I need to say it Haley, nothing happened between me and that woman. I didn't sleep with her, I didn't kiss her, and I didn't touch her." Nathan repeated to her, wondering how many times he was going to have to say that before she actually believed him.

Haley bit down on her lip again and could feel her eyes beginning to brim with tears again. She desperately wanted to believe him, he sounded so convincing but how could she be sure? She knew that she should be able to trust him but there had been something in the way that he had looked at her last night when he had first walked into the apartment with that whore, he looked at her like she was a piece of shit on the bottom of his shoe, something that he just wanted to ignore and it was that image which was giving her trouble, it was that which was making her doubt him. "Whether you slept with her or not Nathan, it doesn't matter. You wanted to and that's what matters." Haley returned to him as the tears started falling yet again. She brought a hand up to wipe them away, wishing that he would just leave it be, she couldn't do this, she didn't want to feel this hurt by him, she didn't want to feel anything.

Nathan looked away from her, he couldn't take it that he was hurting her this much, but she needed to know that he was hurting too. He furrowed his brow as he tried to think of the best way to say what he needed to.

Haley turned her gaze back to him and could see him considering something, what she didn't know, because as far as she was concerned everything had changed between them. She was hurting more than she had ever hurt before, and he needed to know that, she wanted him to feel guilty about what he had done. "You know what Nathan, after everything that we had been through, I can't believe that you would do something like that, I thought I knew you…" Haley started but found that she was interrupted by Nathan shouting back at her.

"And I thought I knew you too Haley. So tell me, how long have you been seeing your boyfriend behind my back?" Nathan threw back at her, exasperated with how much blame she was putting on him. He knew that shouting at her was not the right way to deal with this, but he didn't know how else to express himself.

Haley frowned at him and shook her head. "I haven't been seeing my boyfriend behind your back Nathan; I haven't seen him in a long time." Haley answered him, wondering where all this was coming from.

"Oh really?" Nathan fired back at her. "You know what I can't believe Haley? The fact that you are getting so upset about me bringing a woman back home for one fucking night, which never actually came to anything anyway, when you have been sleeping with your boyfriend all this time."

Haley sighed deeply, how the hell could he think that? "Nathan I have not been sleeping with my boyfriend at all, in fact, ever since our first kiss, I haven't slept with him. And it's pissing me off that you are accusing me of doing something like that just to make yourself feel better." She returned to him.

Nathan scoffed at her. Did she really expect him to believe that? Well he wasn't buying it, especially after what he had seen yesterday. "So the fact that I saw you kissing him yesterday was inconsequential right? It didn't mean anything? Oh, apart from the fact that you lied to me about the fact that you were going to break up with him, of course." Nathan said sourly, his voice laced with bitterness as he once again replayed that kiss that he had witnessed them sharing in his head.

Haley grew even more confused. What shit was he going on about now? She hadn't kissed Tom. She racked her brains, rerunning what had gone on yesterday and still didn't know what the hell he was going on about. She had broken up with him, he had been an ass about it… and then he had kissed her neck. She immediately cast her gaze up at Nathan and she couldn't believe the smug look that he had on his face, like he had caught her red-handed. Almost immediately she realised that he had bought that woman back to the apartment as revenge for her, for something that he had thought he had seen, for something that he had made up in his head. She could feel her arms trembling around her as the realisation set in and even more fury and hurt swept through her entire body. Any tears that she had been trying desperately to hold at bay were now flowing freely down her face. How could he have just presumed that? She opened her mouth, willing some words to come to her but nothing did. She couldn't look at him anymore, she couldn't be trapped in this tiny office with him anymore, she was suffocating in his presence and so without another word to him, without even looking at him, she walked past him towards the door, just needing to get away from him.

Nathan was so pleased with himself, as much as he could see that she was hurting, he was pleased that she had finally realised what she had, he was pleased that now she couldn't just blame him for what had happened between them. But he grew confused and angry at her when he watched her move towards the door. Now that he had got that out in the open, he wanted to know what the hell she had been doing, what the hell were her plans for them? Where the hell did he fit in with all this? As she walked past him without even looking at him, he grabbed onto her arm before she had a chance to move any further. "Haley I think you have some explaining to do." Nathan said to her sharply as he pulled her back towards him.

By now, Haley could feel her entire body shaking with rage. As she felt Nathan pull her back into the office and away from the door, she angrily shook her hand free of him and as she turned around to him, she slapped him around the face. But once she started hitting him, she couldn't stop and soon she found that she was flapping all over the place, lashing out at him in any way that she could, sobbing uncontrollably. She could hear herself trying to speak to him, but all that was coming out of her mouth were incoherent noises, expressing the deep pain she felt at what he had done to her. She felt like her entire world was crashing around her, her heart was splitting into a thousand and one pieces all because of this man standing in front of her. A man who she loved so very much, a man that she wanted to be with, to share her life with, a man that she knew she couldn't live without. And she hated him for that.

Nathan was shocked at how upset she was right now. He tried to get a hold of her hands but they were flying around in so many different directions that he couldn't seem to keep up with them. She wasn't hurting him, but he still wanted her to stop. "Haley! Stop!" He said to her, trying to get her to calm down. He could hear her practically suffocating from all the crying that she was doing, her choked sobs were cutting right into his heart, despite the fact that she had hurt him; he didn't want her to feel this way. He loved her, and he hated seeing her like this.

Haley grew tired very quickly but the emotions that she was feeling inside of her spurred her on. She was finding it incredibly difficult to breathe though and soon realised that she was going to have to stop all her flapping and take control of her breathing. She hit him one last time on the arm before she pushed him away as hard as she could as she connected both her hands with his chest, which only made Nathan stumble two steps backwards. She brought one of her hands up to her face and covered her mouth with it, in an attempt to stop herself from crying any further, but it seemed that now every time she looked at him, the pain just got ten times stronger.

Nathan could feel the tears beginning to well in his own eyes as he looked down at the woman he needed in his life so very much, seeing her completely broken. He had to try to make this better, this bitter man that he was being right now wasn't who he was, and he couldn't be that man in front of Haley, not when she made him a much better person that he could ever have hoped to be, not when he loved her as much as he did. "Baby, I'm so sorry." He whispered to her, knowing that despite the distance that was now between them, that she would hear him.

Haley knew that he was. She could hear it, she could feel it. But did the fact that he was sorry about bringing that woman back to the apartment make everything okay? She took a deep breath as she tried to steady herself and forced herself to look at him, despite how much it hurt her to do so, she needed to say this, she needed him to know just how committed to their relationship she was, or is, or whatever. "Nathan, what you saw yesterday afternoon was not what you thought it was. I asked him to come over to the apartment because he was in meetings all day and it was the only time he could see me. I broke up with him yesterday because, as I told you, you are the person I want to be with, not him. He kissed me, Nathan, on the neck, I did not kiss him, and I have told him that it is over between us."

Nathan closed his eyes as he finally heard the words that he had been waiting to hear for what felt like an eternity. She had done it, she was his, and the elation that he felt in that moment would have been enough for him to survive on for the rest of his life. Until he realised that he had now completely screwed up absolutely everything, and the second that he realised that, it was like someone had got a pin and burst the balloon of elation right in his face. How could he have been so stupid, how could he have ever doubted her words? He knew in that second that he had to do whatever he could to make this right. "Haley, I…" He said, but found himself cut off by Haley.

"No Nathan." Haley interrupted as she took yet another steadying breath before looking up at him and continuing. "I told you that I was going to break up with him, everything I said that night was true and came right from my heart." She then took tentative steps towards him, stopping just short of him, feeling that clenching in her chest completely overrule any calming emotions she had been trying to feel in that moment as the sobs continued in full force. She found herself unable to look at his face, so instead she chose to look at his shoes. "Why didn't you talk to me Nathan? Why didn't you ask me what was going on instead of jumping to the wrong conclusion?" She whispered to his shoes before shaking her head at the bizarre situation she had found herself in as her tears fell to the floor.

"God Haley, if I could take back the way that I acted yesterday, I would do it in a second." Nathan said to her with so much conviction in his voice. "You have to believe that Haley. I can't help the way that I am, I feel so strongly about you and I know that I should have talked to you before going out and doing what I did, and I can't justify my actions. I was jealous and I thought that I had lost you to him, I was hurting so badly Haley." He said as he took a deep breath before continuing. "I know what I did was wrong, and you're right, even bringing that woman back to our home was wrong and low and completely absurd of me. And I know that I can't take that back Haley, but you have to forgive me." He pleaded with her, before tentatively moving his hand to her chin so that he could raise her head. He needed to be looking at her; he needed her to see, to feel how much she meant to him. He locked his gaze with hers and felt his heart constrict painfully at the thought that he may have messed everything up between them, she was so beautiful, he hated the pain that he could see so clearly, not just in her eyes, but right inside of her. He needed her in his life, she had to forgive him, he couldn't live with himself if she didn't. "I need you to forgive me for that Haley. I can't live without you. You're everything to me. Everything." He whispered, before closing his eyes. "I love you so, so much."

Haley bit down on her lip as she listened to him. And as she watched him close his eyes and whisper his feeling to her, she couldn't help the sob that came from her throat. She placed her hand on his chest and could feel his heart beating underneath it, a heart that she longed to be hers. But could she forgive him for what he did? She didn't know right now. "Nathan, if you love me as much as you say you do, then you wouldn't have been able to do what you did." Haley said as she furrowed her brow, trying to organise her thoughts on the whole issue, the tears still falling down her face. "And I love you too." She choked out as she started to sob again. "That's why this hurts me so much Nathan."

Nathan opened his eyes and clenched her hand which was still placed on his chest in his own. "Haley…" He said as he started to feel his own tears fall down his cheek. He looked down at her, and he could see the confusion, he could see the doubt and he had no idea what he could do to change any of it.

Haley took a deep breath before removing her hands from his chest. "Nathan I can't do this, I'm sorry." She said before turning and walking away from him. "I have to go."

**AN – God, that was such a difficult chapter to write. There is still SO much to happen in this story… it's kind of making my head spin a bit!**

**So they are kind of starting to communicate a bit more with each other but obviously that didn't end too well…**

**As always, a sneak peek is available (which is already written, it's a long one – think I'm gonna have to send it in two parts!), just let me know if you want it by dropping me a review.**

**And even if you don't want a sneak peek, let me know what you thought about the chapter anyway by leaving me a review, I love reading your thoughts!**

**Yes, Haley is still hiding the fact that she was engaged to Tom… but all is going to be revealed in the next couple of chapters… especially when Tom makes another appearance. I wonder if any of you can guess what he is up to?!**

**Oh and Kiss the Rain is coming, I promise...**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN – And once again I am completely astounded by the response this story continues to generate! I really do want to thank each and every one of you that takes the time to read and leave such amazing comments about this story. They really do make me smile big time, dimples and all! **

**There is still a bit of a way to go with this story, as many of you pointed out, there are still many secrets left that are waiting to be revealed, the question is when will they be discovered? **

**As always I just wanted to say some quick words to those of you without accounts that left comments which I couldn't respond personally to. **Judy** – I'm pleased you enjoyed the last chapter despite all the drama, I hope you enjoy this one, and I hope you got my email with the sneak peek in it?! **Ann** – I'm so happy that you enjoyed the last chapter, I hope you like this one too! **Colleen Keating** – Aw I'm so pleased that you are enjoying this story so much and sorry I couldn't send you a sneak peek, fanfiction blocked your email address out of the review you left me so I couldn't see it, try putting some brackets in there and I should be able to send it to you next time! **Serena** – Thank you so much for your lovely words about my writing and I am so glad that you enjoyed the last chapter, I hope you enjoy this one too! **Brutus** – I know that last chapter was intense; I found that it was a really difficult one to write! Haley does have a lot of things still to tell Nathan. I'm so pleased that you are enjoying this story so much, I hope you like this chapter!**

**Right so on with the story, I hope you all enjoy this chapter… and please read the AN at the bottom too – you might be interested in something I have to offer, and plus I have some news for you all…**

**Thanks to Kristen (who read about five versions of this!) and to Rebecca for reading over this chapter for me!**

**Chapter Seventeen **

Nathan watched Haley run out of his brother's office, finding that he was now left in the room alone and in a state of complete and utter shock. His hands were hanging limply at his sides, his heart was beating at an impossibly fast rate and his breathing was deep and heavy. He felt like he was choking on nothing, he had no idea what the hell had just happened and as he tried to wrap his head around it all he realised that he was left in yet another state of absolute limbo with Haley. What had just happened? Had she broken up with him? What the hell did 'I can't do this' mean? Did she mean that she couldn't talk about what had happened last night with him yet but that she would? Or did she mean that she couldn't deal with their relationship anymore as a whole? Had she just ended this? He tried very hard to disregard that thought as soon as it had entered his head as it only made the suffocating, clenching feeling that he felt deep in his chest even more painful than it already was without him thinking thoughts like that, but somehow he just couldn't shake it off. Why had she just run out on him again? Why couldn't they ever reach any clear conclusions when they discussed important things like this? Why the hell did everything have to be so damn complicated between them both?

He knew that he desperately needed to find out what was going on, even if it meant that Haley was going to tell him things that his brain just didn't want to hear or comprehend, it would be better knowing than not knowing, wouldn't it? He debated with himself for a few more seconds and then decided that he had to know either way, good or bad news, he just needed to know what the hell was going on between them both. So he took a couple more seconds to compose himself, trying to collect his thoughts and calm himself down a little, for inside he was panicking like a headless chicken. He had no fucking idea what the hell she had just done to them both and he didn't like it one bit. Yet again those thoughts of living without her in his life were tormenting him inside his head. He shook his head at himself; nothing had been decided yet, had it, so why torture himself with those thoughts? He could save all that for when he really was alone and without her, for he knew that if that was the case, he would have plenty of time on his hands to think about all of that, he had no idea what he would do with himself if he weren't with Haley. He then proceeded to run out of the office in search of her. She really did have some explaining to do and this time he wouldn't let her get away from him so easily.

As soon as Haley ran out of the office, she headed straight for the restrooms as she knew that she probably looked a right state at the moment given that she had just been crying her eyes out, in fact, the tears hadn't stopped yet either. She was so confused; she didn't have a clue what she wanted anymore. She knew that she wanted Nathan, but she wasn't sure if she was able to be with him anymore, not after everything that had happened. She furrowed her brow as she felt even more tears begin to fall down her cheeks. She had finally broken free from Tom, everything between her and Nathan should be falling into place but instead it was all falling apart. Why the hell did he have to bring that woman back to their apartment? She believed him, she believed that nothing had actually happened between him and that woman, but there had to be a line somewhere didn't there? Hadn't he stepped over it the moment that thought had even entered his mind?

She shook her head at herself; she didn't want to rerun all of this shit in her head again, she needed to focus and concentrate on her work, especially as she had this client event that Lucas wanted her to attend in a matter of hours. She really needed to get her head in the game; she desperately wanted to make a good impression on these clients, especially as she was going to be dealing with them frequently once the promotion kicked in properly next week. She brought her hands up to her face and wiped her eyes with her hands, hoping that she had cleared any traces of her tears, and as she wasn't looking where she was going, she bumped right into someone's hard chest. "Oh. Sorry." She muttered before looking up and finding Lucas staring down at her. God, this was just typical! She wiped at her eyes even more frantically than she had been doing, desperate to clear away any evidence which could lead Lucas to think that she was upset about something, as that was one conversation she really didn't want to have with him right now, not when absolutely nothing was clear in her own head. How was she supposed to come up with a decent cover story at the moment when she had all these thoughts running through her brain?

Lucas held Haley's waist with his hands, steadying her from falling over from the impact of hitting him square in the chest, chuckling at her clumsiness. "You know Haley; if you opened your eyes you might actually see where you're going and avoid bumping into people altogether." He teased before he looked down at her face and he furrowed his brow, seeing that she was crying. Had he hurt her? He instantly removed his hands from her waist. "Haley, are you hurt?" He asked her seriously, his eyes doing a quick sweep of her body to check for any apparent injuries, and thankfully his eyes found none. Besides, how hurt could someone get from just bumping into another person?

"No, no, I'm fine." Haley returned as she looked down at the ground, not wanting to look him in the eye as she desperately tried to get a hold of her emotions. She decided to change the subject, hoping that he would drop the fact that she was standing in the middle of a crowded office, crying. "I dropped that research you asked me to do on the desk in your office." She said before sidestepping around him. "Excuse me." She said as she continued her walk towards the restrooms.

"Haley, are you sure you're okay?" Lucas called after her, not convinced at all by her facade. Something had upset her, he had seen her walking out of his office just moments ago but he had become distracted by someone giving him a report and then the next thing he knew she had crashed into his body. What on earth could she have seen in his office that would make her this upset? He was getting paranoid now, had he left something confidential about her out on his desk that she could have seen? But that was a ridiculous thought given that anything he had ever written about Haley in performance appraisals and such like had been nothing but positive, in fact glowing. So what the hell was up with her?

Haley whipped her head around quickly, wanting nothing more than to just get to the ladies restrooms so that she could clean herself up and get a hold of herself. "I'm fine, honestly." She insisted before she scurried away to the bathrooms.

Lucas lifted his hand to his head and scratched his scalp, utterly perplexed with her behaviour. She had just been promoted this morning, she should be ecstatic about that, not crying in the middle of the day. Unless she was crying about something that wasn't related to her work. Had she just received some bad news about a family member or something? He shook his head, realising that he had a meeting with her set up this afternoon anyway to run through this evenings plans and he could ask her about it then. He watched her flee into the restrooms and then swivelled around and walked in the direction of his office, placing his hand on the doorknob before jumping back slightly as his brother came flying through the door and smacked him right in the chest. "Ompfh." Lucas spluttered as found himself being knocked back by the sheer force of Nathan crashing into him.

"Sorry Luke." Nathan said as he steadied himself, instantly craning his neck to the left as he looked to see if Haley was at her desk, but unfortunately for him she wasn't.

Lucas was now even more confused than he had been. He tried to piece together the puzzle in his head, he'd just seen Haley walk out of his office, crying, and now Nathan was here, walking out of his office just after she had. He looked at his brother, and could see him scanning the office floor, looking for someone, and Lucas would have bet every single Dollar he owned on that person being Haley. "Looking for someone?" He asked his brother as he raised his eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest.

Nathan was frantically searching for Haley but he couldn't see her anywhere. He was so distracted by the need to find her, before he had a chance to stop himself, he blurted it out. "Yeah Haley, have you seen her?" He asked his brother as his eyes continued to sweep the floor. Where the hell could she have got to? Didn't she know how desperately they needed to talk things through; didn't they have a thousand and one issues to sort out? Why was she making this so difficult?

Lucas shook his head at his brother, instantly wishing that they were currently inside his office with the door firmly shut so that he could punch him. "What did you do to upset her?" He asked in a pissed off tone as he rolled his eyes. Didn't his brother have any tact about him?

"Why have you seen her?" Nathan asked as his eyes instantly snapped to his brother's, silently encouraging him to tell him where she had run off to, he even stepped to the side of where his brother currently blocked his path, getting himself ready to take off in whatever direction he would point him in. He had to find her, this couldn't go on all afternoon without him speaking to her, and he certainly couldn't wait until she'd finished whatever engagement she had on this evening to end before he was able to talk to her about all of this shit that was going on between them.

"Yes I've seen her, she was crying. What the hell happened?" Lucas asked, stepping to the left a little so that he continued to block Nathan's path. He wasn't going to let his brother pass without an explanation of some kind.

"Where did she go?" Nathan asked desperately, wishing that his brother would stop with all the questions, he didn't have time for this shit, he just needed to know where she had gone so that he could find her.

Lucas continued to roll his eyes at his brother. He pointed in the direction of the restroom and the elevators. "She went that way. Now what happened?" He asked again, this time lacing his voice with determination. Now that he knew that Haley was upset about something that Nathan had done, he was going to get him to explain himself to him.

Nathan shook his head as he sidestepped to the right, trying to come up with an excuse as to what he could have done that would firstly not make Luke mad at him and that secondly, was an excuse that was also a reasonable and believable explanation, one that would keep his brother in the dark about his and Haley's relationship. "You know, we live together, she was moaning about my mess or something." He said quickly as he moved past his brother and headed in the direction he had pointed him in.

"You know how you can fix that one Nate?" Lucas called after him. "Move out!" He shouted as he walked into his office and closed the door behind him. His brother could be such a piece of work when he wanted to be and he instantly sympathised with Haley. Living with him could not be easy, not at all. In fact, he almost wouldn't wish his brother's company on his worst enemy, not when he was being infinitely annoying and childlike, just as he knew he could be.

Nathan rushed over to the elevators and restrooms, choosing to ignore his brother's sarcastic comment, and even though the urge to shout something back to him was rife, he managed to contain it for he had bigger things to worry about at the moment, and so he focussed all his attention on finding Haley. And now, as he looked between the elevators and the restrooms, he had a decision to make. Would she have just gone to the restrooms, given how upset she was, or would she have walked out of the building completely? He didn't have a clue and so he stared blankly to the right and to the left, trying to make a decision. After five minutes of deliberating, changing his mind and then changing it back again, he waited outside the restrooms for another three minutes and then he realised that she must have gone outside after all. He knew that it was pointless for him to go and look for her along Wall Street, she could be anywhere by now. So dejectedly he pressed the button for the elevator and stepped inside once it arrived. He guessed he was going to have to wait until this evening to speak to her after all. He'd make sure that he stayed up until she came home though, he wouldn't care if it was nine o'clock at night or three o'clock in the morning, he was going to get this cleared up and sorted tonight, whether she wanted to talk about it or not.

As soon as Haley had entered the restroom, she locked the door and walked straight up to the mirror, taking in her dishevelled appearance. As she had suspected, she looked a total and utter mess. She sighed as she ran the water and splashed it over her face, before leaning against the sink. What the hell was she doing? She didn't have a clue. Her head was still a complete jumbled mess and as she furrowed her brow and raised her gaze to the mirror, glancing at her reflection, she knew that she needed to really think about what she wanted. Now that she didn't have to think about Tom, things could really move forward between her and Nathan, but nothing had ever run smoothly between them, and although she knew that it was mostly her doing, Nathan's antics last night had completely thrown everything off kilter. After a good few minutes thinking things over, she still hadn't come to any concrete conclusions. She sighed as she walked out of the bathroom, realising that she had a lot of debating and thinking to do with herself, whether she wanted to or not.

~*~

Half an hour later, Haley found herself sitting in Lucas' office looking over the invitation list for this evening's event. She flicked her gaze over the list of names and companies and recognised a few from phone calls, emails and projects that she had been working on with Lucas, and she knew that it would be nice to put some faces to names and voices, especially those that she had been having almost constant communication with. But there were also a lot of names on the list that she didn't recognise. She furrowed her brow as she realised that this evening was going to be very tiring for her, meeting all these new people, making polite conversation, that was tiring at the best of times but as she thought about the current state of her emotions, which were all over the place, she realised that she was going to be exhausted by the end of the night. She was already feeling sleepy and it was only three o'clock in the afternoon. She just prayed that this evening's event wouldn't end too late. She desperately needed some sleep after last night.

"Okay, so pretty much everyone on the list is important, so make sure that you do the rounds, introduce yourself to as many people as you can, talk to them, you know, work the room." Lucas started. "The most important aspect of this job is having strong contacts Haley, especially in situations where Scott Investment Management and every single one of our competitors are all fighting for a new building that just comes up on the market, we need the contacts to be able to get in there and buy it, if we want it, before anyone else even knows about it."

"Okay." Haley answered Lucas, before lifting up the list to take another look at it again. "Is there anyone on here that you don't want me to miss meeting?" She asked, before placing the list back down on the table so that Lucas could check it.

Lucas picked up the list and did a quick scan of it, while racking his brain, trying to think of any rumours he had heard on the grapevine. "Well, I hear that Camberley and Sons have a couple of good investment opportunities coming up so it wouldn't hurt for you to spend a little while with James Camberley. He usually brings a couple of his employees with him to these events too. I'll point him out to you once he arrives."

"Okay, sounds good." Haley responded with a smile, trying to seem enthusiastic about this, which she should be, it was exciting, she was moving up in the world. But all the events of the past day had completely taken their toll on her, and she knew that she wasn't being her usually bright and happy self, which apparently, Lucas had picked up on too.

Lucas looked over at Haley and could see that her heart wasn't really in this and he knew that it was all his brother's fault. He really was going to wring his brother's neck the next time he saw him. "Haley is everything okay between you and Nathan?" He asked her, wanting to let her know that if something were bothering her that he would listen to her, she could talk to him about it, if she wanted to.

Haley instantly raised her gaze to his and tried desperately to control the blush that she could feel forming on her cheeks. _Shit, what the hell had Nathan told him? _She pondered to herself, did he know about their relationship? She instantly disregarded that thought as it was impossible for him to know, if he did wouldn't he be furious at the fact that she had cheated on Tom? She wasn't sure what the hell was going on, she didn't know if he knew anything or if he knew everything and so she decided to play it safe. "Of course, why do you ask?" She questioned him curiously, wanting him to lay all of his cards on the table before she answered him properly.

Lucas continued to stare intently at Haley, wondering why she was lying to him, was there something that she was hiding from him? He had seen her run from his office, crying, only to then find that she had just been talking to Nathan, so he knew that Nathan had said something to upset her, why else would she have been crying? "It's just that I bumped into Nathan earlier and he mentioned that you were having a few problems." Lucas said, all the while watching Haley's expressions very carefully. If Nathan was making her feel uncomfortable then he had no problem talking to him, or rather telling him to sort himself out.

_Oh shit. _Haley thought to herself. But he was still being rather cryptic with her. Was he waiting for her to admit the whole truth about her relationship with Nathan, was that why he was looking at her the way that he was currently? She quickly tried to come up with something that she could say back to that, and just hoped that her face wasn't giving her away too much. "What kind of problems?" Haley asked, trying her best to buy herself some more time.

"It's just that he was saying you had some problems with his habits at home, you know how messy he is or something like that." Lucas answered. "You know Haley, if he really is bothering you that much then just let me know and I can have a word with him."

_Thank god! _Haley thought to herself ,breathing a deep sigh of relief as she realised that he still didn't know the full extent of what she had been doing with his brother. She quickly realised that she needed to answer him though and she knew that she didn't want Lucas getting any more involved in her relationship with Nathan, not when something could so easily slip or be discovered. "Oh no, it's fine." She replied quickly.

"But he upset you Haley, when I saw you earlier he made you cry, so things can't be fine, can they?" Lucas questioned, hoping that he wasn't getting too involved in all this; he just wanted Haley to know that he could help her if his brother was getting too much for her, that was all.

"Honestly, everything is fine between us now. We sorted it all out." Haley responded, forcing herself to look Lucas in the eye so that he would believe what she was saying to him. At least she hoped that he would believe her, because what had just come out of her mouth was so far from the truth. Nothing had been sorted out between her and Nathan at all; everything was still up in the air, wasn't it? She thought back to the last conversation she'd had with Nathan in this very room not long ago. Had she broken up with him? She didn't know, which was the very reason why everything was so very far from 'fine' between the both of them; nothing had been cleared up between them at all. She sighed as she realised just how much she still needed to think about, and with this evenings event coming up she didn't know when she was going to find the time.

"As long as you're sure?" Lucas questioned once more.

"Honestly, its fine Luke, thanks for asking." Haley answered him, before swiftly changing the subject, as this was one topic of conversation that she really didn't want to linger on at all. "So it's seven o'clock tonight?" She asked.

"Yep, seven o'clock this evening in the other office building down the road. I'll meet you in reception over there if you want and we can head up together." Lucas stated, carefully considering asking Haley once again if she was okay before thinking better of it. He knew something was up but if she didn't want to discuss it with him then he needed to respect her privacy and not dwell on the subject if it made her feel uncomfortable.

"Okay sounds good." Haley responded as she stood up from the table and began to walk towards the door to his office. "As soon as I've finished up some bits and pieces here I was going to pop out and get a new dress or something, I presume its formal dress tonight?" Haley enquired.

"It is formal but it's not black tie." Lucas responded. "I'm just going to wear this suit and maybe change my shirt."

"So I guess just a simple dress will do?" Haley pondered to herself. "Anyway, I think you have a three thirty conference call with Mr Felton." Haley stated, giggling slightly at the way Lucas rolled his eyes at her. "So I'll let you get on." Haley finished before she walked out of the door and returned to her desk.

~*~

Nathan had put his hand on his phone seven times in the last five minutes, and each time he had done so he then pulled it away before he'd had a chance to even pick up the damn thing. His hand hovered over the phone once more; it was like his head was daring him to do something he knew that he shouldn't be doing. But all he wanted to do was to talk to her, to make sure that she was okay. He'd hated the way that they had left things; he was just so confused and didn't know what the hell to think of it all. Part of him was angry at her for putting them back in this shit situation, part of him was angry at himself for not going after her to make sure that she was okay, for he hated seeing her so upset about it all and him standing like a gormless idiot in that office for so long had only lead him to find himself in this state of worry about her, what a fucking waste of time that had been. And then there was another part of him that was mentally kicking himself in the balls for not running after her sooner and demanding answers and explanations for all this stuff that was still running through his head.

He quickly pulled his hovering hand away from the phone and rested his head in his hands while he ran his fingers through his hair. What the hell was he doing? Why was making such a simple decision, call her or don't call her, taking this much thought? It was crazy. But he knew why he was doing it to himself. He knew that Haley had asked for some space, she'd said they might possibly be able to talk this evening, but then he'd gone and trapped her in that office, which possibly could have been a very big mistake on his part, but he needed to have some answers. And now that he had talked to her, he felt like he still hadn't got any further with her than he felt he had this morning, if anything, he had moved even further away from the reconciliation he so wanted, and that's why he wanted to talk to her. He wanted everything to go back to normal, he just wanted her. And the anticipation of waiting until this evening was killing him, which is why he was debating about the phone call, he desperately wanted to ease his own mind a little but he also wanted to give Haley the space she wanted.

He could do this, he could remain calm and have a civil and sophisticated conversation about this with her, couldn't he? But what if she was considering things, and hearing from him caused her mind to switch in a direction that he didn't even want to think about at the moment? God, this was just all so confusing. He closed his eyes, willing his mind to just make a damn decision, and then moved his hand towards the phone. _It's just a phone call. Just make sure she's alright. _He said to himself as he opened his eyes and found his hand once again hovering just above the phone. He slowly lowered it before jumping right out of his seat when it started to ring. He instantly snapped his hand away from the phone and clutched his now rapidly beating heart, before chuckling to himself about his ridiculous reaction to the phone ringing, what else did he expect it to do? He took a couple of deep breaths before answering. "Nathan Scott speaking."

"Nate, it's me." Lucas said once he heard that Nathan had picked up the phone on his end.

"Hey Luke." Nathan responded as he felt his heart rate return to a much more normal pace. "What can I do for you?"

"What are your plans for this evening?" Lucas asked inconspicuously, praying that his brother had nothing planned at all.

"I need to be at the apartment, why?" Nathan answered, thinking about the long evening he had ahead of himself waiting for Haley to come home, wondering what she was actually doing, where she would be, given that she hadn't told him any details of her plans for this evening.

"Well, you know we have that client event tonight?" Lucas started, hoping that Nathan would soon catch on to what he was asking.

"Yeah…" Nathan said, not liking where this was going at all. He needed to be at home, he couldn't be anywhere else, especially not stuck in the office all evening. He'd physically die if he walked into the apartment and found Haley asleep or something, having missed another perfect opportunity to sort things out. He couldn't do that to himself.

"Well I've just got off the phone with Mr Felton." Lucas continued.

"Bet that was fun!" Nathan interrupted in a sarcastic voice, knowing how demanding and infuriating that man could be sometimes.

"Fun, not so much." Lucas chuckled. "But interesting, yes." He said suggestively.

"Go on…" Nathan said, his interest in what his brother was about to reveal severely increased.

"He has what he calls this 'super opportunity' that he wants to discuss with you. He wouldn't give me any details but he does seem genuinely excited about it." Lucas revealed.

"Well can't he call me about it?" Nathan questioned, really, really not liking where Lucas was going with this conversation now at all.

"He wants to see you in person. Tonight." Lucas stated.

Nathan groaned and closed his eyes. Why did this have to come up right now? Couldn't this have happened at another, more convenient time? "What time does it start?" He asked.

"Seven, it's being held in the main conference room on your floor." Lucas returned.

Nathan quickly did the maths. If he spent two hours at this client evening then he could be home by half past nine, which was most certainly not late enough for him to feel guilty about waking Haley up if she had got home before him and had gone to sleep. "Okay, fine, I'll be there but I need to leave at nine."

"Great!" Lucas said as he smiled, pleased that Mr Felton would be kept happy. "You'll have to let me know what it's all about."

"Of course. I'll see you later tonight." Nathan replied, before hanging up the phone once Lucas had said his goodbyes. He sighed deeply as he put the phone back in place. This stupid client event better not make him late home. Someone would pay deeply for that if it were to happen.

~*~

At seven o'clock precisely, Haley found herself in the elevator with Lucas, heading up to the client event that was taking place up on the top floor of the building. She shifted from foot to foot, feeling quite nervous at the fact that she was about to meet so many people, and so she took some calming deep breaths in an effort to relax herself. She glanced quickly at her reflection in the mirrored wall of the elevator and was in the middle of straightening herself out when she heard the chime of the elevator indicating that they had reached their destination. She followed Luke out of the elevator and they walked along the corridor towards the large conference room. She could hear the commotion before she saw it, and raised her eyebrow in surprise once she came face to face with the conference room. It had been totally transformed, a bar stood along the far wall, waiters carried canapés and champagne through the crowds of people and the room was absolutely bustling with life. She didn't know where to look, there were so many people there and as she quickly scanned the room she found that she recognised hardly anyone.

Lucas leaned into Haley slightly and started to walk them both further into the room as he tried to spot some of the key clients so that he could point them out to her. "Okay, if you look over at the bar towards the left hand side you should see a group of about five or so men with a glass of scotch in their hands." Lucas muttered quietly to Haley, waiting for her to nod as confirmation that she had spotted who he was trying to describe, which she did. "The man standing facing us in the grey suit is Mr Felton."

Haley looked subtly over at the bar once again and heard the loud laughter coming from their group of people. She spotted Mr Felton dressed in what looked like an extremely expensive suit, and eyed him up and down quickly, noticing that he sounded much older than he appeared to be now that she had put a face to a name, or rather a voice.

Lucas spun around quickly, trying to find Mr Camberley so that he could introduce Haley to him, and he instantly spotted him on the right hand side of the bar, almost opposite to where Mr Felton was standing. "Come on, I've found Mr Camberley." Lucas said as he walked through the crowd towards the bar.

Haley followed Lucas towards what appeared to be a group of ten or so men all standing in a circle. She instantly found herself getting incredibly nervous, which was silly as all she was going to do was introduce herself and engage in some small talk, get her name out there. But somehow, she felt that tonight would be a very important step in her career, this was her chance to make a really good first impression, and she didn't want anything to screw that up, she knew how important they were.

Lucas caught Mr Camberley's eye as he walked over and offered him a smile, holding out his arm once he was close enough to him. "Good to see you here James." Lucas said as he shook his hand.

"Nice to be here Lucas." James returned, before turning his attention to the woman that stood beside him. "And who might this be?" He asked.

"This would be Haley James." Lucas said as he introduced Haley to Mr Camberley.

Haley stepped forward and shook hands with Mr Camberley. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr Camberley." Haley said, smiling at him as she released her hand from his firm grasp.

"The pleasure is all mine, and please, call me James." James replied, smiling back at her.

"Haley has just been promoted, she'll be working very closely with me in the future so I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to introduce her to a few of our key clients." Lucas explained.

"Congratulations Haley, that's excellent news." James responded, before stopping a passing waiter and grabbing glasses of champagne for everyone situated in his circle and began to toast her success, before he started to engage in conversation about upcoming projects that his company were working on.

~*~

Nathan had just walked out of his office and was headed towards the conference room. He sighed as he looked down at his watch, seeing that it was already quarter past seven, he only had an hour and forty-five minutes of this to endure before he could return home and hope that he'd beaten Haley to it. He was still incredibly anxious about their impending conversation, it was plaguing his thoughts but he knew that he was going to have to try to not think about it while he was working the room. He had to have his head in the game, especially as Mr Felton wanted to talk over a few things with him. He sighed again and ran a hand through his hair as he rounded the corner and then stepped inside the room, immediately heading for the bar. He ordered himself a scotch and before he'd even had a chance to take a sip, he heard Mr Felton call his name. He turned his head and saw that he was beckoning him over, and so with a heavy sigh he moved over to where he was standing, plastering a smile on his face.

Fifteen minutes later, Mr Felton was still talking about absolute shit, boasting about his business deals and Nathan had found that he had switched off a long time ago. He really didn't care for all this bigheaded nonsense and he found his mind drifting back to the looming conversation that he needed to have with Haley. He thought back over what had happened in Lucas' office earlier and realised that she hadn't said that their relationship was all over, she'd said she couldn't do this, which to him, didn't mean that it was over yet. There was some hope inside of him, however miniscule and diminishing it was, he needed to hold onto that. It was all that was keeping his heart beating at this point.

He heard his group of people begin to laugh and started to laugh alongside them, having no idea what they had found so funny. His head snapped back to the situation at hand and he realised that he had a sea of clients in front of him and he had only talked to one of them, which was incredibly rude of him, especially as it was his company that was holding this event. He twisted himself around slightly, so that he was still facing the circle of people he was with but so that he could also scope out the room at the same time and see who else he needed to talk to. Mr Felton didn't seem to want to discuss whatever he needed to in front of all his colleagues and so Nathan would wait for Mr Felton to catch up with him later, when he deemed it a more appropriate topic of discussion. And if he didn't see him later, well he could always call him tomorrow.

He subtly turned his head and noticed a fair few familiar faces, though none of any real importance to him. He smiled as his eyes connected with a few of his clients and he lifted his glass to them, before he moved his eyes further around the room, eventually settling on Mr Camberley, who was situated at the other side of the bar to where he was currently standing with Mr Felton. Mr Camberley was one of Lucas' key clients, along with Mr Felton, and so Nathan realised that he would need to go over there and say hello to him. He saw that he was surrounded by a group of about ten of his employees, as well as his brother, and as Lucas shook Mr Camberley's hand and turned away, presumably to greet some of his other guests, he saw her standing with them.

She looked absolutely breathtaking, as always. She was dressed in a simple black tight fitting dress, the material hugging her curves to perfection. He couldn't help his gaze from wandering up and down her perfect form, taking her all in. But it was when his eyes rested on her face that he felt that clenching deep inside of his stomach. She was smiling so gloriously, so perfectly, and for Nathan it was just a sharp reminder of the contrast in her emotions. He hadn't made her smile like that in over twenty-four hours. All he had made her feel was pain and disappointment in him. He furrowed his brow as he continued to watch her, realising now that even feigning interest in Mr Felton's conversation was utterly pointless. She had completely captivated him, and this time, when the group of men surrounding him erupted in loud laughter, he didn't join in. Instead he took a gulp from his scotch, his eyes never leaving her.

~*~

Haley was rather enjoying her conversation with James and his colleagues. They were talking about some upcoming projects, and she was listening intently to what he was saying, trying to absorb as much as she could so that she could relay all this information back to Lucas the following morning. Some of the opportunities he was discussing seemed like the type of thing that Scott Investment Management would be highly interested in. James was very professional and Haley could tell that he was the type of man who didn't like to mess around. If he wanted something, it got completed, which was probably how he had come to be so successful in the first place. She was listening to him chat about a new patch of land his company had acquired, and the relevant plans he had for the building he wanted to be erected on it when she heard someone utter an apology and cut in the conversation from behind her.

"So sorry I'm late James, we ran into a bit of trouble with the architect over the plans for Moore Place, but they have all been agreed now." The man said.

"Ah, Brad, we were just talking about that property. I assume the plans were agreed in the original format?" James asked his colleague.

"Of course." Brad nodded.

"Excellent. Brad, this is Haley, Haley, this is Brad. Haley has just been promoted here at Scott Investment Management, and will be working closely with Lucas Scott." James explained.

Haley turned around from where she was standing, holding out her hand ready to be introduced to the new person she was about to meet, when she gasped at the person she saw standing in front of her. "Oh my gosh! Brad!" She said with a smile, instantly recognising who he was.

"Haley James!" Brad returned, shaking his head as he took her in, his eyes wandering up and down her body quickly. "You look phenomenal, come here." He said to her as he held his hands out for her to hug him.

Haley stepped forward and embraced him in a hug, before stepping away and looking him up and down. "You look so well! I never knew that you entered the property development business. What the hell happened to your teaching aspirations?" Haley asked.

"Let's just say that I realised pretty quickly that I could earn much more money this way. And you of all people should know that my taste in woman calls for a rather large bank balance." He said with a wink. "What about you? You have to tell me everything, it's been years!"

Haley laughed at him before rolling her eyes and hitting him on the arm playfully. "I was not that bad!" She defended herself. "I thought I was rather a cheap date if I remember rightly, we only went to the local pizza place. And I'm sure you don't want to hear about my boring life. Last I heard you went travelling after college, where did you go again?"

"That would be correct; I took a year out before entering the real world." Brad started.

"Ever the avoider of reality." Haley teased as she rolled her eyes, before smiling at him, eager to hear about his travels.

Brad chuckled at Haley's joke. "Well you know me. Anyway, so I spent the year travelling around Eastern Europe, it was just amazing, so different from anywhere I've ever been before." Brad started as he grabbed two more glasses of champagne from a waiter and handed one to Haley before continuing to tell her all about his year out.

Nathan furrowed his brow even further than he had been and he was sure that he was scowling at what he saw displayed in front of him. Why the hell had Haley hugged this new bastard that had joined in the conversation she was having? Why had she lit up so fabulously, in a way that he completely recognised from when she would first set eyes on him when they saw each other, when she had turned around to see who it was? Why was she still glowing in his presence? Why was she laughing and smiling at him? Why was she touching him? Was she flirting with him? And why the hell was she still fucking talking to him? His grasp on his glass of scotch was getting tighter and tighter, and he was so sure that it was going to crack in his grasp, but he didn't care. He was absolutely seething with anger and jealousy. No one but him should be able to have that kind of effect on her. No one. Especially not at an event his fucking company was hosting. He didn't give a shit if this was one of Mr Camberley's employees, if he needed to, he would stop his entire company from doing business with them. He didn't care what he had to do, as long as it kept Haley away from that bastard. She was his and no one else's. And this prick needed to know that.

Haley was having a great time listening to all of Brad's antics while he was abroad. She found herself completely enthralled at all that he had seen and experienced and still couldn't believe that he was standing here, in this room with her. It really had been years since she had seen him and it was really nice to catch up with him. She took another sip of her champagne and then realised that her glass was empty, so she scanned the room to find a nearby waiter, when her breath caught in her throat. Standing just across the room from where she was, was Nathan. Her eyes instantly locked with his and it was like the whole room had completely disappeared and it was just her and him standing in it. The buzzing conversation that had been surrounding her had silenced to absolutely nothing, and as she looked into his eyes, she could see that he was angry at her, the expression on his face most certainly didn't hide that at all. And all of a sudden, she found herself thinking about being with him, about not being with him, and those voices in her head that she had managed to silence since walking in this room were now shouting at her to do something. Go to him. Run away. She didn't know what the hell she needed to do. She was breathing sharply as she felt his penetrating gaze continue to glare into her and she found herself just as confused as she had been this afternoon. What the hell did she want from this man?

Nathan watched Haley watching him and could instantly see her expression change, and not in a good way. Granted, he was looking at her with such distaste, but what else was he supposed to do when she was standing in front of him flirting unashamedly with another man. Did she honestly think that he wanted to see this? Did she honestly think that he would be okay with watching this? Because he sure as hell wasn't. He continued to breathe deeply, trying to keep control of his emotions, but now that she knew that he was there, well, he was more than interested to see how she was going to play this now. One thing was for sure, he wasn't going to keep his eyes off her all night. He watched as she turned away from him, the prick handing her another glass of champagne and he placed his scotch down on the bar beside him, quickly removing his gaze from Haley for a second to ask the barman for another, before returning his eyes to her, noticing that she was now completely avoiding his gaze.

Haley was thankful to be jolted out of her Nathan trance by Brad who had given her another glass of champagne. She kept her eyes firmly away from Nathan, trying to concentrate on what Brad was saying but she was now completely distracted by him and her head was spinning uncontrollably. What was he doing here? Wait, that was a stupid question, this was his company, so of course he would be here. She tried desperately hard not to steal another glance over at him but she found that the desire to look at him completely overruled any discouraging thoughts she had about the idea. She could feel his eyes watching her, she could feel his gaze burning holes in her body and she desperately wanted to look at him, only she didn't want him to catch her doing it. So she cautiously moved her gaze over to where she had last seen him standing and lifted it to him, finding the desire that she held for him completely overwhelming as her eyes slowly moved up his fabulous body. Was it really possible to crave someone as much as she did him? She breathed in sharply when her eyes rested on his blue ones, which were concentrated so heavily on her. She quickly moved her gaze away from him, wondering what he was thinking about. If this had been any other circumstance, if this weirdness wasn't hanging over them both then he would have given her that smirk that she so desperately loved at him catching her looking at him like that, the one that made her just want to wrap her legs around him and take him right then and there. And even though he hadn't given her that smirk, she still found herself wanting to be wrapped around him, and she blushed as those thoughts entered her head. Especially as everything between them was so up in the air right now, she shouldn't be thinking things like that, but she knew that she couldn't help it.

Nathan frowned as he watched that blush that he loved so much cover her cheeks and he wondered what thoughts had made it appear on her beautiful face. She had, whether consciously or unconsciously kept a suitable amount of distance between herself and this prick that she was talking to, now that she knew that he was watching her, but Nathan wasn't grateful to her for it. He wouldn't be grateful to either of them until the prick removed himself from this room completely. He continued to watch them both, the prick was talking a great deal and he could see from the expression on Haley's face that she wasn't listening to him. She looked deep in thought and he would have given anything at that precise moment to delve into her head, to know what was going on inside of her mind.

"Have you ever been Haley?" Brad asked, not realising that he was interrupting her thoughts.

Haley realised that Brad had asked her a question, although she had no idea what it was. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Prague, have you ever been?" Brad repeated his question and while waiting for her to answer him he took a sip of his champagne.

"No I haven't." Haley answered him while trying to sort out her thoughts. She was even more confused now than she had been earlier on, especially now that she realised that she wanted to have Nathan inside of her. Why did he have this effect on her? Why was she so drawn to him? Was it the fact that she knew that he was angry about something, did that turn her on? She almost laughed at the thought, he was Nathan Scott, and he'd always be able to turn her on, as she seemed to have absolutely no control over her body where he was concerned.

"Oh you must go, you'd absolutely love it." Brad said as he leaned over to touch her arm, and then continued to talk about his experiences in Prague.

Nathan slammed his glass down on the bar and glared over at Haley. He was touching her again, and he just couldn't handle it. He took some deep breaths, trying to remind himself of where he was, he was in a room full of clients, and he didn't want to make a scene but there was nothing he wanted to do more than to just walk over to that prick and punch the life out of him. He watched as the prick removed his hand from her arm and he instantly felt a little calmer, but he was still angered at the fact that he thought he could just touch her like that. He couldn't, he shouldn't, Haley was his, and no one else should be able touch her.

Haley tried once again to engage herself in conversation with Brad, but now that she knew that Nathan was looking at her, now that she knew that he was in the same room as her, dressed in a suit which showed off his muscles to perfection, she found that she was too turned on to concentrate. She realised that she needed to look at him again, and so she surreptitiously cast her eyes over in his direction, and was once again overwhelmed by the feeling of desire that coursed through her body at seeing him once more. He was absolutely delicious, angry or not angry. In fact, his anger would only mean the sex would be rougher. She closed her eyes and looked back at Brad, mentally slapping herself for thinking these kind of thoughts. She was meant to be hurt and angry at him, not having thoughts that included her riding his cock like a damn cowgirl.

Brad smiled at Haley and then suddenly remembered a piece of gossip he wasn't sure she would have heard about or not. "Did you hear about Edward Allen?" He asked her, a wicked glint evident in his eyes and he almost laughed at what he was about to reveal to her.

Haley shook her head as she took a sip of her champagne, before lowering it back down. She was fiddling with the stem of the glass, her mind completely focussed on Nathan, but she managed to clear her thoughts of him for a second and concentrated on what Brad was about to tell her, he literally looked like he was ready to burst with excitement and so she was more than a little curious about what he had to tell her.

Brad smirked at her and then leaned into her so that he could whisper this piece of gossip to her, it wasn't something that he wanted to announce in front of an audience. As he leaned in, he couldn't help the fact that his eyes sunk southwards, trying to get a glimpse of her cleavage, and nor could he hide the fact that he was attracted to her. She was still just as stunning as she had been in college. Once he managed to retract his eyes from her cleavage, he found that he was already at her ear. "He, well, he's no longer a he." He whispered to her.

By now Nathan's entire body was quivering with rage. The whispering was too far. The leering down her dress was just fucking inappropriate and then way that he was now looking into her eyes as they shared some secret joke just cut him in half. Who the fuck was this guy and what the hell did he think he was doing with his girlfriend? Nathan knew that he needed to stop this madness and so before he had a second to process what he was doing and change his mind, he stomped towards her, ready to punch the living daylights out of this bastard, he really needed some fucking sense knocked into him and Nathan wouldn't hesitate to offer it to him.

Haley leaned away from him and looked him in the eyes, trying to decide if he was playing around with her, but she could see no traces of any teasing in his eyes. "No way!" She gasped as she brought her hand up to her mouth in shock.

"Yep, he had the operation done two years after college and renamed himself Edwina." Brad revealed while laughing at Haley's shocked expression, it really was priceless.

"I mean, there was always something a little off about him, I'll admit, but a sex change?" Haley whispered. "That's just crazy!"

Brad chuckled at her. "I know. I'm surprised you didn't hear about that one, Haley."

Haley just shook her head, still in total shock at what she had just heard. "Has anyone seen him since?" She asked.

"A few people, but apparently he prefers to lay low." Brad answered.

Haley was about to answer him when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She instantly turned around to see who it was and almost gasped when she saw Nathan standing there. She struggled to breathe given his close proximity to her, and she knew that she needed to say something; only words weren't coming to her at all. The desire to lean in and kiss him on the lips was completely overwhelming, but she knew that she couldn't do that. No after everything that had been said and especially everything that remained unsaid between them both. Luckily, or so she thought, Nathan saved her brain from thinking up a coherent sentence.

"Nathan Scott." Nathan said as he introduced himself into the conversation. He didn't offer his hand to shake, which he knew was incredibly rude of him to do so, especially given that this prick belonged to one of his clients, but he was past caring by now. He glared at Haley, letting her know that he was far from happy about the flirting she had been doing with this guy. "I take it you know Haley." He said simply, though the tone of his voice was full of frustration and anger.

"Oh Haley and I go way back, we've known each other a long time." Brad replied with a smile. "I'm Brad by the way, Brad Jones; I work for Camberley and Son."

Nathan removed his gaze from Haley and turned towards this Brad dude, and could see him not so subtly eying her up and down, and he found that he had to take a deep breath and count to five otherwise Brad would no longer have been standing, instead he would have been a bundled heap of limbs on the floor. "I see." Nathan responded tightly, his lips barely moving.

Haley continued to look at Nathan and wondered why he was being so rude to one of his clients when all Brad was being was polite. She furrowed her brow at him and continued to look at him, in the hope that he would turn and look at her so she could tell him silently to cut it out, but he didn't. Instead, he seemed far more interested in glaring at Brad. She sighed as she took another sip of her champagne, emptying the glass before placing it on the tray a passing waiter carried.

Brad removed his gaze from Haley and could see Nathan looking at him, and so he winked at him. Haley was looking good, too good for him to pass up the opportunity of asking her out, and he planned to do so as soon as Nathan Scott left them alone.

By now, Nathan wouldn't have been surprised if steam had been coming out of his ears. Did this punk just wink at him? Motherfucker. He knew that he needed to get out of there before he did something that he should, but probably wouldn't, regret, but there was no way he was leaving Haley with this shit. No fucking way. "Excuse me." He said before grabbing a hold of Haley's wrist and marching them both quickly out of the room and along the corridor to his office. What the fuck was going on? All he knew was that he was absolutely livid.

~*~

Nathan practically threw Haley into his office and slammed the door shut behind him, instantly releasing his grip on her arm and rubbing his hands over his face. He paced up and down the room on the opposite side to where she stood several times as he tried to control his breathing. At this point the rage had completely taken over, the jealousy was coursing through him in an absolute frenzy and he knew that he was powerless to stop any of it. He didn't care if he had just looked like an absolute prick in front of his clients, he honestly didn't give a shit at all, not after what he had just seen. He moved his hands further up his face and then ran them through his hair, clenching fistfuls of it before he turned to look at her but as soon as he did he turned away again, for he couldn't even bring himself to do that at the moment, not when he had all these images running around in his head. He tried to open his mouth and talk to her but nothing was coming out, he was actually spluttering and stuttering over his words, in fact, all that was coming out of his mouth was merely noise right now.

Haley watched Nathan prowl up and down the office, he looked like a caged animal, she had never seen him this angry before and she didn't know what the hell to do about it, it was actually quite scary. She should probably try to slip past him and leave him to his own devices but she had no idea what he would do if she so much as moved at the moment, she was practically scared of breathing right now. So instead she tried to stay as still as possible and waited until he was ready to tell her what the hell he had been playing at, interrupting her like that and then dragging her off like a two year old requiring a telling off. It had been embarrassing, not only for her and him, but also for the clients she had been speaking to. Was that really the impression that he had wanted to give his most important business contacts?

'_Haley and I go way back.' _Nathan could still hear that prick's drawl and it was actually making his whole body tremble with fury. Who the fuck was that guy and what the hell did he mean? Well, in all honesty he knew exactly what he had meant and it was something that he just couldn't think about right now, for he knew that if he so much as entertained the thought for more than a millisecond it would only end with his head exploding. He had also seen the wink he had not so subtly given him regarding Haley too and it was just so disgusting, so full of cockiness and unspoken innuendo, and just... how the fuck dare he do something like that with Haley. His Haley. Except he realised right then and there that she wasn't his at all, she had fucking walked out on him. "Fuck!" Nathan shouted out suddenly, while still pacing up and down the room.

Haley jumped when she heard him curse all of a sudden. His voice was laced with anger and spite, she could tell, even though he had only shouted one word to her since he had slammed the door to his office shut what had to be about five minutes ago now, that he had completely lost it. She wanted to say something to calm him down, but she didn't know what would right now. So she kept quiet and watched him continue to pace, wondering what the hell she had done to get him this worked up. All she had been doing was talking to people all night, so why the hell was he this mad at her? Wasn't that the whole purpose of these type of events?

Nathan took what he hoped would be two more calming breaths, except they didn't settle him down at all, the rage inside of him was still incredibly rife but he knew that he had to ask the question, even though he was so sure that didn't want to hear the answer. He slammed his fist against the wall and leant against it, facing away from Haley as he once again tried to calm down, but his willingness still wasn't working. "Who was that guy Haley?" Nathan asked through gritted teeth, practically having to spit the words out of his mouth.

Haley was still incredibly wary of Nathan's mood and she didn't want to rattle him even further than she clearly already had, but all she had been doing was talking to someone, she still didn't really get why he had reacted in such a dramatic way. But she did know exactly who he was talking about, it was Brad. She sighed as she thought about telling him the truth, but she was very aware of the fact that he was still absolutely fuming, so she decided to play it safe. "He's an old friend." She answered quietly as she looked down at the floor, hoping that he wouldn't notice the fact that she was evading the truth slightly.

Nathan turned around from his spot against the wall and grew even more incensed at the fact that she was now lying to him about who he was. "Bullshit Haley. That guy was more than a fucking friend. Do not lie to me." He seethed at her.

"I'm not lying to you Nathan, he is an old friend." Haley started as she then looked up from where she had been staring down at the floor and gasped at the intense way Nathan was looking at her. His usually bright blue eyes had turned an impossibly dark shade and his face was red with rage.

Nathan looked deeply into her brown eyes from across the room and couldn't help what came out of his mouth next. "Did you fuck him?" He asked. He knew that he was being incredibly irrational but he couldn't help how he was feeling, just the thought of that shit's hands on her at any point in time was enough to make his blood boil, regardless of the fact that it would have happened a long time ago. But that was irrelevant really because it seemed, from the way he had just been looking and winking at her, that her 'friend' wanted her right this very instant. And as far as he was concerned, she was still his, he had not given up on their relationship yet and there mere thought of anyone but him touching her again just left him absolutely furious and utterly envious. He didn't understand why this guy bothered him so much, he didn't understand why he was so jealous as it wasn't like he could go back in time and change anything, but he could definitely prevent something from happening in the future.

Haley was completely shocked at what he had just asked him, quite frankly it was none of his business and so she decided that she wasn't going to answer him. She didn't owe him answers to those kinds of questions; they were personal and had nothing to do with her and his relationship, or whatever they were to each other right now, she still didn't know the answer to that problem.

She wasn't answering him. Did that mean yes or no? He couldn't take it anymore; he had to know whether she had been with him in that way. "I asked you if you fucked him Haley, now answer me!" He roared at her as his entire body shook with this incredible fury that was exploding inside of him. He didn't understand why he needed to know the answer to this question so badly, was it so that if she said yes, he could go and punch the guy? Was it because he needed to know that the prick hadn't ever claimed her in the way that he had? It wasn't like he didn't know that she'd slept with other men before she had been with him, but there was something about seeing a person who had seen her, claimed her, in a way that only he should ever be able to do that left him utterly livid.

"Fuck you Nathan." Haley yelled back at him, getting fed up with the way that he was shouting at her. What right did he have to come and interrupt her while she was mid conversation with someone fairly important and then five seconds later all but carry her out of the room? How embarrassing was that? Why had he felt the need to go all caveman on her? And she couldn't believe what he was now asking her, who the hell did he think he was? "What business is it of yours? And even if something did happen between me and him, it would have happened a fucking long time ago, way before I had even met you!"

Nathan marched his way over to the other side of the office where she stood and made sure that his face was right up against hers. "Did he touch you?" He asked her at a deliberately slow pace, as if phrasing the question in a more polite way would make Haley feel more inclined to answer him.

"None of your business." Haley responded to his question in exactly the same pace as he had used with her.

By now Nathan's breathing had sped up to a impossible rate, his heart was beating wildly in his chest, and he knew that if he didn't calm down quickly he really was going to lose it, which was something that he didn't really want to do while his company was hosting an incredibly important client evening just outside of his office. He closed his eyes for some time and somehow managed to calm himself down, he had no idea how but when he opened them again, he felt a lot more relaxed than he had been previously. He took several more deep breaths as he contemplated his words very carefully. "Haley, can you honestly tell me that you could handle seeing me with someone else?" He asked her, knowing that he couldn't do this anymore, he loved her, he needed her and he had to make her see that it was exactly the same for her too, he knew it was, he had seen the way she had been stealing glances at him all evening, he knew that she still cared about him, he knew that she still wanted him. He knew that she still loved him.

Haley furrowed her brow, she had no idea how the conversation had just switched from him ranting at her, asking if she'd had sex with Brad years ago, to him asking her if she could handle seeing him with someone else. "What?" She asked in an incredibly confused voice. He was going crazy on her, that was the only explanation she could come up with for the completely erratic behaviour she had witnessed coming from him this evening.

"I want you to think about it Haley, I want you to close your eyes and imagine seeing me with someone else, imagine someone else's hands on me, imagine, god I don't know, me sleeping with someone else. Can you honestly tell me that you would be okay with that?" He asked her as he continued to breathe in deeply. He was so close to her, he could smell her perfume, he loved that smell, it was just so Haley. He watched as she closed her eyes and he really had to fight the temptation to lean in and kiss her soft lips.

Haley closed her eyes, his proximity to her was not helping one bit, and the words that he was using were making her heart clench painfully. Nathan with someone else. Could she handle it? She knew that she wouldn't be able to. She opened her eyes and frowned as she looked down at the floor.

"Because baby, if what we have is over, then that's going to happen, we're going to go our separate ways and eventually move on with our lives." Nathan said softly as he lifted his hand to her chin and moved her face up so that she was looking at him. "Is that what you honestly want?" He whispered to her as he looked intently into her deep brown eyes.

_No. _She thought to herself, it wasn't what she wanted at all. She could see his eyes looking right into her, and she had to close her eyes again, her eyes gave away far too much and he could read her like a book, she knew that. She thought back to how she had been feeling when she had thought that Nathan had slept with that woman last night, she had felt like the entire world had collapsed on top of her and she hadn't even really seen him with her, all she had seen was him walking into the apartment behind her and then him standing next to her for a couple of seconds, he hadn't even been touching her. So no, she knew that she wouldn't be able to handle it if she bumped into him at some point in the future, seeing him share laughs with another woman, watching him touch someone else. His smile was for her, wasn't it? His arms belonged around her waist, not someone else's. She desperately wanted to scream at the images that were forming in her head as they were just wrong, plain and simple.

"Seeing you with someone else Hales, even thinking about someone else touching you absolutely kills me. And that's how I know that I can't do this, isn't it the same for you?" He continued to whisper to her as his hand moved up from her chin and softly caressed her cheek, his eyes sweeping across her face, desperately searching for answers.

_Yes it is. _Haley thought to herself. She continued to try to picture bumping into Nathan while he was on a date with someone else and she found herself getting really angry at the thought. He was hers. No one else should ever be able to touch him because he belonged to her, with her. All these crazy emotions that had been running through her since yesterday suddenly took their toll on her completely and all she wanted was him. She needed him, his touch, his body, him. She needed him in her life, she needed him there first thing in the morning and she needed him by her side last thing at night. She knew that this was what she wanted, she also knew that it was what Nathan wanted and so without a second thought she leaned forward and captured his lips with hers as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him hungrily. She felt the hesitation from him, the surprise at her suddenly kissing him like this, but the instant that his lips started to move with hers she smiled. Yes, this was right; this was the way it was supposed to be. She needed to give herself to him completely; she wanted to be his completely.

Nathan was completely startled when he felt Haley's lips land on his, this hadn't been what he had been expecting at all, he was expecting another blow up and if he was being honest with himself, he had been expecting her to walk out on him again. But as her mouth started to move over his, he found that his mind was completely clouded by the realisation that she was kissing him. And all of a sudden, everything was right again. He moved his hand that was still on her cheek down to her neck and then continued until he had it wrapped around the back of her head, tangled in her beautiful long hair as his mouth moved in sync with hers. He felt her tongue trace over his bottom lip and he moaned when he felt her slide into his mouth.

Haley was kissing him with as much passion and hunger that she could muster. She needed this, she needed him and she was no longer going to let anything stand in their way. She pulled away from his mouth a little and then placed three soft, light kisses on his lips, before moving her mouth down to his delicious neck. "God Nathan." She moaned against his skin as she started to nip and bite her way along his skin.

Hearing her moan his name like that suddenly caused Nathan to remember their current situation. What the hell was going on here? He wasn't going to allow himself to be dragged back into another round of happiness with her, to only find that it didn't last. He needed things to be out in the open. He needed to know where he stood with her. So he decided to talk to her about it now. He managed to pry her off his neck and he looked deeply into her eyes.

Haley was confused, she looked at him before she stared down at the floor and wasn't entirely sure of what was going on. Didn't he want this anymore? "What Nathan?" She questioned him as she raised her eyes and looked right back at him, his blue eyes full of unspoken questions, seeking answers.

Nathan continued to hold his hand in her hair behind her neck and took a deep breath before answering her. "What is this Haley?" He asked, praying that she would answer with what he needed to hear, instead of saying nothing, which to him would mean that this was nothing but an impulse thing, her acting on her desires for this evening, only to change her mind again the next day. He couldn't live like that anymore. He needed her completely. He craved for her to be his.

"What do you mean Nathan?" Haley asked, slightly confused by what he was asking of her. This was her wanting to be with him, couldn't he see that?

Nathan leaned down towards her and closed his eyes, stopping mere inches from her face as he cradled her neck. "This, Haley. What does this mean? Where do we stand with each other?" He asked, not opening his eyes for he was afraid of what she would, or wouldn't say.

"Nathan I'm tired of all of this. I just want to be with you. Properly. I have no one or nothing holding me back from you now. I just want to start things over between us and just… I don't know, I just want to have a normal relationship with you. One that is just about you and me." Haley answered him honestly. That really was where her heart and her head were at right now. Yes she had made a bunch of mistakes along the way, and Nathan wasn't perfect in this either, but if they were both now on the same page, nothing could go wrong, could it?

"Haley are you sure about this?" Nathan asked, not wanting to get his hopes up too much, for she was saying everything that he wanted to hear but he still couldn't forget about all the times she had changed her mind before. He needed her to know that if she meant this, that he was going to do it all properly, there would be no turning back.

"Nathan I have never been surer about anything in my life. With you is where I need to be." Haley returned in a voice laced with conviction. She knew what she wanted, what she needed, and it was all standing in front of her. "What do you want?" She asked.

Nathan opened his eyes and looked into her gorgeous brown eyes. "You." He said simply as he lowered his head to hers. "You're all I've ever wanted, all I'll ever need." He muttered as his lips inched closer and closer towards hers.

"You have me." Haley whispered to him as his lips hovered millimetres above her own. She desperately needed to kiss him, she could feel his warm breath on her skin, and his mouth was so close to hers, he was so tempting. But she knew that he needed to do this, he needed to initiate this, and he needed to be sure of her words. So she held back and waited with bated breath.

Nathan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her whisper those words to him. He didn't understand quite why he needed reassuring so much, especially after all she had promised him two nights ago. He'd been the one that had messed that up, and she hadn't been lying to him then as he had so wrongly concluded when he saw her with her ex boyfriend. And now, here she was once again telling him that she was his, and that was all that he wanted, he didn't want anything to get in their way, nothing else mattered anymore, the past was the past and they both needed to concentrate on their future together. "I love you Haley." He muttered before lowering his mouth the millimetres that were needed to connect his mouth with hers.

"I love you too Nathan." Haley whispered before she felt Nathan's lips touch hers. She instantly wrapped her arms back around his neck and pulled his mouth down onto hers as she felt his hands run down her back, settling on her waist, trying desperately to deepen the kiss. She moaned when she felt his hands move down to her ass, just as she opened her mouth and felt his tongue touch hers. She poured everything she had into that kiss, the need, the want, the craving, the promise of what was to come. She couldn't feel anything other than the love that she felt for this man that ran so deep inside of her. God, she really did love him and she also needed him more than anything else at the moment.

Nathan couldn't stop the groans that were falling from his mouth as he kissed Haley hungrily. This was it, this was the start of everything that he had ever dreamed about, this was the beginning of everything he had ever wanted with her, and he felt like the luckiest bastard on the whole planet. His hands were on her ass, running over her cheeks lightly, noticing that she was either going commando or wearing a thong, and as he slipped one of his hands lower down the back of her thigh, he was greeted with the feel of her silky smooth skin where the material of her dress ended. She felt so perfect underneath his fingertips, she was simply stunning.

Haley knew that she needed him, she could feel his fingers running along the back of her thigh and just that simple touch was already making her wet with anticipation. She moaned into his mouth as she opened her eyes and spotted his chair on the other side of the desk and began to walk them both over to it. As she was navigating them both around his desk, she ran her hands down from his neck over his back, lightly raking her fingernails down through the material of his shirt, until she hit the waistband of his trousers, and she then brought her hands around to the front of his trousers and began to unbuckle his belt.

As soon as Nathan felt Haley's hands start to unbuckle his belt and begin unzipping his trousers, he pulled away from her quickly. "Haley what are you doing?" He asked her breathlessly. They couldn't have sex in his office, not when there were all those people just along the corridor.

"Shush Nathan." Haley said seductively as she ran both her hands along his hips and around to his back, where she placed her hands inside the waistband of his boxers and began to move them down his legs along with his trousers.

"Haley I'm serious, we cannot have sex in here, not when we have a client evening taking place just along the corridor." Nathan stated, despite how much he really did want to rip that dress right off her, bend her over his desk and have his wicked way with her, he knew that realistically, it just wasn't possible right now, he'd have to save that fantasy for another time when the whole office was empty.

Haley licked her lips seductively as she looked up at Nathan through her lashes. "It's a good thing I wasn't planning on fucking you then, isn't it?" She said with a raised eyebrow, before pushing on his chest, causing him to sit back in his desk chair.

"Haley." Nathan said in what he hoped was a stern voice. But as he watched her drop to her knees in front of him, as he watched her reach out and grip his now rock hard cock, he knew that he wouldn't be able to tell her to stop. And as she pumped him up and down twice, he said her name again, only for entirely different reasons this time.

Haley couldn't wait any longer, she needed his cock inside of her mouth and judging by the moaning that Nathan was doing, it seemed that he was ready for a bit more too. She licked her lips and then lowered her mouth down to his cock; she kept her hand on the base of his shaft, as she licked her way around the tip of his cock, smiling as he jerked a little from the surprise of feeling her tongue on him. She looked up at him from her position on the floor and smiled at him, before lowering her mouth onto him.

"Fuck Haley." Nathan moaned as he watched her mouth engulf him, before she then started to use her teeth as she moved his cock out of her mouth. "Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you look on your knees like that?" He moaned as he felt her take him in her mouth again. The way she grazed her teeth along him felt so amazing, he reached down and tangled his fingers in her hair as he gently applied some pressure, telling her that he needed her to go faster.

"Mmmm." Haley moaned as she felt Nathan's cock hit the back of her throat. She sped up her actions as he wanted, and she moaned once again when his cock was fully in her mouth.

"Shit." Nathan groaned, as the vibrations of her moaning around his cock shot waves of pleasure through his entire body. He felt her swirl her tongue around the head of his cock before she lowered herself on him again. "Just like that baby, that feels so fucking good." He moaned again. Just as Haley was moving her head back up his cock, Nathan suddenly heard a knock on his office door and he startled. "Fuck!" He said, his eyes going as wide as saucers as he pushed Haley completely under the desk in a blind panic, who the fuck was that at his door? He knew that he didn't have enough time to pull his trousers back up so he wheeled his chair as far under the desk as he could, in the hope that whoever was at his door wouldn't notice the fact that he was half naked.

Haley scrambled to a sitting position underneath the desk, completely in shock that someone was at the door. She tried to keep still and be as quiet as possible, what if it was Lucas who was just about to enter the room? She started to panic but managed somehow to keep quiet.

Nathan looked around his office quickly for any incriminating evidence but thankfully he found none. "Come in." He called out, glancing quickly down at the floor to see if Haley was hidden well enough. He then picked up a pen and some documents that he had lying around on his desk and pretended to be reading through them. He waited for the door to open and inhaled sharply when he saw who was walking inside. He wheeled his chair even further underneath his desk, could this get any more embarrassing?

"Ah Nathan, thought you might be hiding away in here." Mr Felton said as he closed the door to Nathan's office behind him. "You just can't keep away from work can you?" He teased.

"Well, Mr Felton, you know me." Nathan replied while making sure that as much of his body as possible was hidden under the desk. The edge of his desk was poking him in the stomach forcefully yet somehow he still didn't feel like he was hidden far enough. He was so paranoid about being caught, what kind of a message would this be to give one of his company's most important clients when they had some big business deal to discuss with him? And what a way for Haley to be introduced to him... this was just so absurd.

Mr Felton smiled at Nathan as he walked over to one of the seats in front of his desk and sat down. "Yes I do, Nathan. I trust Lucas has spoken with you?" He asked.

"He did." Nathan responded, as he placed the pen that he still had in his hands down on his desk and gave Mr Felton his full attention. All he wanted was for him to spit out whatever deal he had going on so that he would leave, then he and Haley could get the hell out of this office. There was no way he was going to do anything with her in here while all those people were just along the corridor. He could only imagine the commotion it would cause if they were to get caught. He should have been stronger and just said no to Haley instead of allowing himself to get caught up in the moment with her.

Haley was cramped as anything underneath his desk. Nathan was taking up most of the available space with his damn long legs and his chair, of which most of it seemed to be underneath the desk rather than sticking out on the other side. She had to keep biting back the giggles, this was so silly, here she was hiding under a desk as her boyfriend talked business with one of his largest clients, half naked with his trousers around his ankles. She bit down on her lip to stop herself laughing but it was getting harder and harder not to. She looked down at his ankles and her gaze travelled up his legs until she rested her eyes on his magnificent cock. She licked her lips as an incredibly evil plan formed in her mind. Nathan would probably kill her for it but what the hell, she'd certainly enjoy herself.

Nathan was trying to listen to what Mr Felton was saying to him but all he could think about was the fact that he was sitting here half naked with Haley hidden underneath his desk. God, how could he be so irresponsible? He shook his head as he resumed his concentration on what Mr Felton was saying.

"So, we got talking with the current owners and believe that this could be an excellent opportunity for a joint venture of sorts. The hotel and casino would be completely remodelled but we really do think that this is an excellent business opportunity." Mr Felton said.

Nathan was trying to piece together what he was going on about from what he had just heard. Something about a hotel and a casino, remodelling, joint venture, what the hell was he going on... Nathan jerked his knees up so hard that they hit the top of the desk before realising that Mr Felton was looking at him with an incredibly curious expression on his face. What the fuck was Haley... _Oh shit._

Haley could feel her shoulders shaking as she silently giggled to herself. Her hand was wrapped around his cock and she was pumping it up and down, before she realised that the only way that she could stop herself from laughing out loud was to take him in her mouth, well, that was her excuse anyway. She tucked her knees underneath her and leaned forward before taking him in her mouth again, running her tongue up and down the length of his shaft before closing her lips around him.

"Are you okay Nathan?" Mr Felton asked, concerned by the fact that Nathan had just closed his eyes for much longer than would be deemed appropriate right now, especially given that he was trying to tell him about a business deal.

Nathan snapped his eyes open immediately. "Yes, I'm fine, sorry." He said before gesturing with his hand for Mr Felton to continue. Haley really was trying to kill him, she had to be. What the hell did she think she was doing giving him head like this? He fought to keep his eyes open when he felt her tongue run around the tip of his cock, and moaned quietly to himself when her teeth grazed along his length, just the way he liked it, before he realised what he was doing and concentrated as hard as he could on what Haley was doing... _shit... no _he concentrated on what Mr Felton was saying to him.

"So we have to move quickly on this one Nathan, if you're interested in coming aboard on this. I know it is a small departure from your usual activities but I have a lot of experience in this area and it most certainly doesn't hurt to diversify your portfolio in these current market conditions. I have meetings set up with the management at the hotel tomorrow afternoon in Vegas to run through what they would be willing to accept, as well as meeting with various architects and planners to run through what we would want to do with it. It would be more of a brainstorming and information gathering exercise but I would consider it to be very useful." Mr Felton continued.

Nathan could feel his orgasm building up inside of him and damn it, he really needed to listen to this. He mentally listed his high school basketball record in an attempt to calm himself down and fend off his impending release as he also tried to understand this deal that Mr Felton was talking to him about. "Okay, so we go to Vegas tomorrow to look at the hotel and figure out a business plan basically?" Nathan asked.

"Yes that would be the plan." Mr Felton confirmed.

So a hotel was for sale and Mr Felton wanted Scott Investment Management on board to redesign it. It sounded like a good opportunity to him. "How long is the trip planned for?" Nathan asked.

"A week." Mr Felton responded. "So will you be joining us?"

A week. A week. Oh shit. God her teeth and her tongue and her hand, her lips wrapped around him, his cock hitting the back of her throat. Fuck this felt good. He knew he wouldn't be able to prolong this any longer than he already had. He was going to have a fucking orgasm and he didn't fucking care because Haley was a Goddess that sucked his cock to perfection... and "Yes!" Nathan said as he let go of all the feelings that were running through him, as Haley licked off every single drop of his come from his cock.

" Excellent. We will be arriving at noon Vegas time, I'll mail over details of the hotel as soon as I get home. I look forward to seeing you there Nathan." Mr Felton said as he stood up from his chair and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"What?" Nathan said, confused as to what Mr Felton had just said to him. Had he just agreed to go to Vegas for a week with that man? But never mind that, what the hell did Haley think she was playing at? He wheeled his chair back from his desk quickly and watched as she crawled out for underneath his desk, on all fours, biting down on her lip in that incredibly sexy way that she did. How could he be angry at such a sexy, hot, vixen? He watched the smile play on her lips and he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped from his mouth as he stood up and pulled his boxers and trousers up, before helping Haley to her feet. He leaned into her ear as he walked them both out of the room. "Just you wait until I get you home." He said huskily before walking quickly ahead of her and entering the conference room.

~*~

The rest of the evening had dragged for what felt like an eternity. Haley had walked around the room, introducing herself to people, engaging in small talk while all the time sneaking glances over at Nathan, who had also been working the room, and watching her too. She smiled over at him each time their eyes met across the room, and he had given her that smirk that she so loved in return, and she found herself blushing again each time she saw it. All she had been thinking about was his promise to her, and she really could not wait until they got home. The anticipation of what was to come was so great, after everything they had been through she just wanted him to be inside of her, she needed to feel that connection with him. And all night she had been watching his movements, watching the way his tongue licked those delicious lips of his. Watching the way his fingers ran along the rim of his scotch glass, wishing that they were running around her nipples. She needed him, more than she had ever felt possible, and as they now stood in the elevator up to their apartment, she found herself mildly confused at the distance he was keeping from her. Surely his hands should be all over her right now, shouldn't they? Why weren't they?

Nathan could feel how hard his cock was. It was straining against his trousers and it had been all fucking night. That was how turned on he was around Haley, she hadn't been anywhere near him since they walked back into that conference room yet he could feel her all around him, feel her eyes watching him. And it was taking every fucking bit of self restraint he had to keep his hands off her. He was going to Vegas tomorrow, for a whole fucking week, spending time away from her, and this, to him, was the first night of their official relationship. He was not going to just fuck her. He was going to make love to her properly, in his bed. Their relationship deserved it after all it had been through. Haley deserved to be loved and cherished, not fucked like a wild animal. That's what she would want from him, so he kept his distance from her, knowing that once he touched her, that electricity would flare up inside of him and make him powerless to stop from taking her right here in the elevator.

Haley heard the chime of the elevator indicating that they had arrived at their floor. She stepped out of the elevator first and walked around the corner to their apartment, not bothering to get her key because Nathan could do it for her. She was so turned on, she needed him so badly, yet he was acting as if once they got inside they were going to sleep in their own beds, which given that he was going away tomorrow, she was not having. She realised that she needed to take charge of this situation, given that Nathan didn't seem like he would and so once he opened the door for her, she walked through it, while unzipping her dress, letting it fall to the floor as she stepped out of it, losing her bra also. She hadn't been wearing any panties. She smiled to herself as she waited, hearing the click of the door, indicating that Nathan had closed it behind him. Any second now...

Nathan kicked off his shoes then turned around once he had closed the door, and found Haley standing facing away from him in nothing but a pair of high heels. He closed his eyes, realising that he was done for. "Fuck." He muttered as he opened them again. She really was too damn sexy for her own good and the vision of her ass right there in front of him was enough to make him lose it altogether. He walked the two strides he needed to and grabbed onto her waist, spinning her around to him as he crashed his lips onto hers, forcing his tongue inside of her mouth before she even had a chance to catch her balance.

Haley smiled as she felt his tongue touch hers; his hands were already running up and down her back to her ass. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him even closer, feeling his hard cock press into her stomach, he seemed to be just as turned on as she was. She was literally dripping wet for him. She moved her hands from his neck and brought them over his strong shoulders and around the front of him until she reached the buttons of his shirt, making quick work of removing it from his body and throwing it to the floor. Her eyes feasted over his toned chest as she lowered her mouth down to his skin, leaving a trail of kisses down his torso. Her hands ran down the sides of his body before tracing the curve of his hip until she reached his belt which she undid quickly, and then she moved onto his trousers which fell to his ankles along with his boxers. She felt him kick them both off his body and then she started to move her mouth back up his body, passing his chest and his neck. She felt Nathan's fingers move along her ass and she moaned into his mouth as she pulled away from him, placing hot, wet kisses along his jaw line until she got to his ear. "Nathan I need your cock inside of me right now." She whispered hotly in his ear as she bit down on his earlobe and gave it a tug.

"God Haley." Nathan muttered as he bent his knees a little and picked her up of the floor, feeling her wrap her legs around his waist as he turned them around quickly, wondering where the hell he could take them. Upstairs should be have been what was running through his head, but as she ground herself on his cock, he realised that he wasn't going to make it up the stairs. He needed her now.

Haley had moved her mouth down to his neck and was kissing and biting her way along it, and then was using her tongue to soothe over her bite marks. She was so wet and ready for him, and as she felt Nathan's mouth move down her own neck, she lifted her body up a little until her nipple was level with his mouth. He seemed to realise what she wanted and licked his way around it, before closing his mouth over it and giving it a tug with his teeth. She moaned and arched her back as she felt him begin to suck on it, and she reacted by grinding herself into his rock hard cock.

_Fuck! _Nathan thought to himself as he felt Haley moving against his cock. He needed to be inside of her right this second but he still hadn't found a suitable surface for them to use. He looked around once more as he moved his mouth onto her other breast and began to lavish it with the same amount of attention her other had just received. He knew this wasn't the way it should be, and he had to tell Haley that he wanted to slow it down. He moved his mouth from her breast and placed a series of hot, wet kisses up her chest until he reached her neck. "We should go upstairs." He mumbled against her skin. He wasn't too sure of the tone of his voice, he didn't sound at all convinced of the fact that he even wanted to go upstairs, but he wanted to make love to this woman. It was then that he felt Haley's hand move down his back, her fingernails lightly raking his skin, causing this wave of pleasure to suddenly rush over him, and then he felt her single finger run over his hip, following his pelvic bone under her hand wrapped around his hard length and he knew that there was no way in hell that they were going upstairs.

Haley bit down on her lip as she grabbed a hold of his cock and started to run it up and down her folds, coating him with her juices. "I can't wait any longer Nathan. I need you to fuck me. Hard." She moaned to him, praying that he wasn't about to make them stop and head upstairs. She was so turned on, so ready for him; she didn't want to go upstairs.

"Fuck." Nathan mumbled as he heard what she was saying to him. He then felt her move his cock inside of her and that was all he needed to make him lose control completely. She wanted it hard? Damn right she was going to get it hard. The first thing that he spotted as he looked over her shoulder was the front door. Would that work? Did it fucking matter if it wouldn't? He was inside of her and he needed her against something flat... doors were flat weren't they? He couldn't even think straight at the moment, not when he felt her warm, slick walls around his rock hard cock. He found himself marching them both over to the door, slamming her back against it probably a little too hard but as he heard her moan and dig her heels into his ass, pushing himself even further inside of her, he realised that she wasn't hurt. He moved his hands from her back around to her hips and held her still against the door as he withdrew himself and then slammed himself inside of her.

Haley felt her head whack against the door but she didn't care. He was inside of her. He was hers. He was fucking her, hard, just like she'd asked. She felt him move out of her before he rammed himself back inside of her, and this time she dug her fingernails into his shoulders, encouraging him as she threw her head back, hitting the door once again. "Fuck yes!" She moaned as she tightened her grip around his waist, needing him closer, wanting more of him.

"You like that baby?" Nathan mumbled against the skin of her neck as he kissed his way along to her pulse point before sucking down on her skin. He heard Haley gasp as he bent his knees and thrust upwards into her again, the different angle causing him to hit spots he couldn't reach if he were standing up straight, before pulling out and repeating the action. "You like it hard, don't you?" He murmured as his mouth latched onto her earlobe.

"Mmmm... harder." Haley gasped as she felt him thrust into her once again, causing her body to lift up against the door. She tried to arch her back but each time she did it, it caused her head to bang into the door with the force of Nathan driving into her like he was. But it was so damn worth it, especially at this new angle, and at the new, frantic pace he had set. She could feel her body tingling, she knew that it wouldn't be long. "Right there, fuck!" She moaned as she felt Nathan thrust into her again.

Nathan could feel Haley clenching her inner muscles around him, and he knew that neither of them would be able to hold off for much longer. He felt Haley's nails rake along his shoulders, sure that she was going to leave a mark behind, but he didn't care, he wanted her to mark him, he was hers and he didn't care who knew it. He thrust into her at his continued frantic pace and pulled away from Haley slightly as she threw her head back and moaned his name continually as she came, watching her come was one of the sexiest things on the planet. Knowing that he had made her feel like that, knowing that he had brought her that much pleasure was a feeling that he would never tire of. Her muscles were contracting around his cock with such force that he came soon after her, releasing his load deep inside of her as he slowed down his movements and rested his forehead against hers, his breathing heavy and laboured as he stared into her beautiful eyes, so full of love and desire for him. "I love you." He whispered as he kissed her lightly on the lips, pulling himself out of her and carrying her up the stairs to his bedroom, placing her in his bed before crawling in behind her, wrapping her up protectively in his arms.

"I love you too Nathan." Haley whispered as she closed her eyes and revelled in the feeling of his body lying behind her, all the while knowing that the fact that he was going to be away from her for a week just after everything had been cleared up would be absolute torture. But did a week really matter when they had each other forever?

~*~

Haley had woken long before Nathan's alarm was due to go off. She had rolled out of his embrace and was leaning up on her elbow, watching him sleep. He really was so perfect. The way his long eyelashes cast a soft shadow on his cheek, the slow rise and fall of his amazing chest, the way he tucked his elbow underneath his head like a second pillow, she loved every little bit of him. She reached out with a hand and began to lightly trace circles on the side of his body. She thought back over how hard it had been for them to get to this place, where they were now. But it had been worth it. The love that she felt for this man was far stronger than any feeling she had ever felt before in her life and if she had to, she would go through it all again, as long as it lead to her being in this very moment, watching the man she loved so much sleep soundly as she contemplated the overwhelming strength of her love for him.

However, she knew that she had to tell him about Tom. She had to tell him that she had been engaged and that she had lied to him about it. She just hoped that the strength of his love for her would be enough for him to overlook those things. It had to be, didn't it? She knew that they would never really be able to move forward if she still kept these secrets from him. She bit down on her lip nervously as she heard his alarm clock go off and he rolled over and whacked it with his hand, causing it to stop beeping and then he rolled back over to her.

Nathan smiled sleepily at Haley who he found propped up on her elbow, watching him. "Hey gorgeous." He muttered to her as he reached out and placed her hair behind her ear, smiling at how perfect she was. He leant up from his pillow and kissed her on the lips before pushing the covers off his body and standing up from the bed. "I'm going to take a quick shower and then pack some stuff before heading to the airport." He said as he turned around and looked at her, finding her deep in thought about something. "Hales, are you okay?" He asked, concerned at the look she had on her face.

Haley snapped out of her daydreams and smiled at him. "I'm fine, you go ahead and shower, I'll jump in after you." She said as she watched him walk into the bathroom and heard the shower start to run. She was building up the courage she needed to tell him all about Tom, she just prayed that he understood all her reasoning; she didn't want them to have another argument about it.

Half an hour later, Haley had showered and dressed for work and was walking down the stairs. She found Nathan waiting for her at the bottom with his suitcase in his hands, smiling up at her. She played with her hands nervously as she walked the final couple of steps before stopping on the last one as she felt Nathan wrap his arms around her waist and pull her into him.

Nathan smiled at how upset she seemed to be at him leaving for a week, and he didn't want to leave her either. He pulled away from their embrace and saw that Haley was still looking down at the ground, fiddling with her hands. He chuckled softly at her as he placed a hand underneath her chin and raised her head so that she was looking into his eyes. "Hales, it's only a week, I'll be home before you know it." He said softly.

"I know Nathan." Haley sighed as she looked into his blue eyes. "There's something I have to tell you before you go though." She said quietly.

"Okay, what is it?" Nathan asked, wondering what she could be talking about.

"It's about my ex." Haley said as she closed her eyes, wondering what Nathan's reaction to it all would be.

Nathan sighed. He didn't want to rehash any of this. Not now, not ever. "Haley, open your eyes." He said, waiting for her to open them before continuing. "I don't care about him anymore Haley. He's your ex. It doesn't matter who he was, what he did, none of that matters Haley. I don't want to hear you worrying about anything to do with him okay? It's in the past and doesn't have any bearing on my relationship with you, or on our future."

"But Nathan..." Haley started but found that she was cut off by Nathan. Was he right? Did Tom matter to them anymore, now that she had ended things with him? Should it matter? She furrowed her brow as she listened to what Nathan had to say.

"I mean it Hales. He's history. And he has nothing whatsoever to do with you and me. Can't we just forget about it all and just enjoy what we have right now?" He asked pleadingly. He really didn't want his last words to Haley before he left for a week to be about her ex. He honestly couldn't give a fuck if he was the President; all that mattered was that he and Haley were together.

Haley nodded her head at him and wrapped her arms around him. She'd tried to talk to him about it but he didn't want to know. She decided that he was right, the past was in the past and so she pushed all thoughts of Tom out of her head and leaned in and kissed Nathan on the lips. "I'm going to miss you so much." She muttered as she pulled away from him.

"Me too." Nathan said as he softly caressed her cheek. "I have to go." He said, even though he didn't want to leave her at all.

"Call me when you land?" Haley asked as she watched him walk towards the front door.

"I will. I love you Hales." Nathan said as he opened the door.

"I love you too." Haley responded as she watched him close the door behind him.

~*~

Nathan had just finished his meetings in the Vegas hotel that he was contemplating buying with Mr Felton and was getting changed for dinner. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to call Haley but he was already running late for dinner, something that he really was dreading, he didn't want to talk to anyone this evening other than Haley, yet alone engage in banter with ten businessmen and their wives, but he knew that he couldn't bow out of it. He threw on his clothes and grabbed the key to the room as he walked out of the door, texting Haley as he walked towards the elevators.

Haley had just put her plate in the sink and was about to start washing up when she heard her phone beep at her. She raced over to where she had left it on the island of the kitchen and smiled as she read Nathan's text.

_I miss you so much Hales. Sorry, running late, will call when I get back from dinner if it's not too late. Love you x_

Haley instantly text him back and then retreated to the sink of dirty dishes and pots and pans. What she wouldn't give to be in Vegas with him right now. She was already performing a mental countdown in her head until she saw him again and he hadn't even been gone a day yet. It was pathetic.

As soon as Nathan exited the elevator, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced down at the text Haley had sent him.

_Miss you too. Call me regardless. I need to hear that sexy voice of yours. Love you. H xx_

He chuckled at her comment and sent a quick reply before walking down the corridor to the restaurant, bracing himself for the dull evening ahead of him.

Haley was wrestling with the grime on the pot she had used to cook her pasta, cursing herself for not remembering to soak the damn thing while she had been eating and was so focussed on scrubbing it clean, she decided to wait before reading the text Nathan had sent her back. Twenty minutes later, she smiled to herself, satisfied that the kitchen was now spotless. She plopped herself on the sofa with her glass of wine and read her text.

_Sexy vice huh? I won't call if it's ridiculously late baby. But I hope it won't be. Just going in the restaurant. x_

God she really needed to hear his voice. The five second call he had given her once his plane had landed was nowhere near long enough to satisfy her. She knew that he wouldn't be able to text her back given that he was just about to eat dinner but she couldn't help herself from replying. She sent the text and then switched on the TV, finding something mundane that would occupy her mind while she waited for him to call her.

Nathan had survived the dinner and it was now the rest of the evening which he had to endure. He sighed as he followed the men out of the restaurant and along a corridor towards the casino. Apparently they had a private room ready for them to gamble the night away. Nathan wondered how long he'd have to stay in their company without appearing rude. He'd felt his phone vibrate in his pocket as he was eating his food, but he hadn't looked at it yet. As stupid as it sounded, he wanted to save her text until later on this evening, just in case he wouldn't be able to speak to her later on.

Half an hour later, Nathan found himself watching a game of Blackjack. He had managed to successfully exclude himself from the activities and was sitting away from the table with some of the women who had joined them this evening. His phone felt like it was burning a hole in his pocket, wanting to be read. It was only a text but reading them made him smile, knowing that the woman he loved was waiting at home in their apartment for him, missing him as much as he was her. He decided that he couldn't wait any longer and so he pulled the phone out of his pocket and glanced down at the message she had sent him.

_Very sexy. Delicious too. Rather like another part of your body. x_

Nathan knew exactly what part of his body she was referring to, and it seemed his cock knew that she was texting about it too, given that it was now painfully hard. He looked around the room and knew that it was far too early for him to make his excuses yet, however much he wanted to leave their company. He looked up as he placed his phone back in his pocket and willed himself to forget what she had just text him, even though he knew that he was preparing to fight a losing battle.

~*~

The following morning, once Nathan had turned off his alarm he stretched as he rolled onto his side and reached for his phone, dialling Haley's number.

"Hi." Haley answered, almost shyly as she remembered their last phone conversation. She was already sitting at her desk, emailing Mr Camberley about Moore Place, trying to arrange a suitable time for her and Lucas to go and visit the site.

Nathan chuckled as soon as he heard her timid voice on the phone. That was one of the many things he loved about her. She could be an absolute vixen one minute and then an innocent angel the next. He decided to have a little fun with her though. "What are you wearing?" He asked in a husky voice.

Haley's eyes went wide as she looked around the office. What the hell was he playing at? "Nathan, I'm at work!" She hissed down the phone at him.

"I know you are Hales." Nathan responded, having to stifle his laughter. "Are you wearing a skirt?"

Haley couldn't believe what he was doing. Did he really think that she was going to do that with him... right now while she was at work? He had to be crazy. "Yes I am but that doesn't matter..."

"Take your panties off." Nathan interrupted her in a husky low whisper.

"Excuse me?" Haley shrieked down the phone before she felt her cheeks turn what she was sure was an incredibly deep shade of red at her outburst. "Nathan I am not going to engage in phone sex with you while I'm at work." She said in an outraged voice that was low enough so that no one else could hear what she was saying. This was so embarrassing, she couldn't believe that she'd just had to use the phrase 'phone sex' while at work!

Nathan burst out laughing when he heard how flustered she was getting. He loved winding her up like this.

Haley soon realised that he had been playing with her and she breathed in deeply, half relieved that he hadn't been serious, half furious that he had been so mean to her.

"Well you certainly weren't embarrassed about engaging in phone sex with me last night, were you baby?" Nathan said teasingly once his laughter had died down at bit.

"Nathan..." Haley said in a warning tone, she couldn't be having this kind of conversation with him while she was at work.

"What?" Nathan replied in an innocent voice. "It was hot Hales, that's all I'm saying."

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Haley said as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Oh baby, from where I was it sounded like you were enjoying yourself thoroughly too." Nathan said huskily.

Haley couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she shook her head at him incredulously.

"Admit it, you loved it too." Nathan said.

"Alright, I enjoyed myself last night." Haley responded before lowering her voice. "But it was nowhere near as good as having you inside of me."

Nathan groaned as he felt himself get hard again. "Baby you're killing me." He said as he inhaled deeply. "I miss you so much."

"Me too." Haley said. "I wish I could be there with you."

Nathan furrowed his brow as he realised that he still had six more days of this to go and suddenly he realised that he couldn't do it. He had a brainwave, one that was a bit dodgy but nonetheless it would mean that Haley could be here with him. "Come then." He stated simply.

"What?" Haley asked as she looked down the phone, wondering what crazy things were coming out of his mouth now.

"Come to Vegas." He said as he sat up on his bed, suddenly thrilled at the thought that by this evening, he wouldn't be lying in this bed alone for he knew that she wouldn't be able to resist coming to see him, despite all the reasons she could come up with for not coming.

**AN – That was a long one..! Do we think that Vegas is going to bring even more drama or do we think no? Hmmm...**

**Alright, so as always, let me know what you thought of the chapter by dropping me a review.**

**A sneak peek is available to those of you that want it, let me know in a review if you want me to send it to you and I will send it as soon as it is written.**

**ALSO – there is a missing scene from this chapter, kind of like an outtake I guess! If you want me to send it to you (it's a bit smutty – hmm I wonder which scene it is?!) then again, just leave me a review and let me know if you want it and I'll send it to you. Those of you without accounts, try putting some spaces and brackets in your email address when you type it in if you want it too. I didn't include it in this chapter in the end because otherwise this chapter would just have been too smutty… is that even possible?! And also this chapter would have been far too long. But anyway, it's there if you want to read it (about 3,500ish words…).**

**And finally – a bit of breaking news right from my sofa… I have started on a sequel to High Heels and Blushes. I am kind of just working on it as and when, so I have no idea when it will be ready for posting, it may be a few months, a few weeks… I don't know right now. But I just wanted to let you all know that it is being worked on. Thanks for all your incredible support with that one shot… it really did blow me away… as does all the support for this story too – I have the best readers and reviewers ever! :o)**


	18. Chapter 18

**AN – Thank you all so much once again for the reviews of the last chapter. They really do make me smile, so keep leaving them as I love hearing your thoughts on the plot lines and where you all think this story is going. There is still rather a long way to go with this story so I hope you all continue to enjoy it.**

**I sent the outtake and the sneak peek to those of you that asked for it. I had no idea that the message would block out the swear words in the outtake, but hopefully you guys kind of got an idea as to what was being said, I don't think it would have been too hard to fill in the blanks!**

**Those of you without accounts who left an e-mail address, I think I responded to all of you who wanted an outtake or a preview of the next chapter, unless I couldn't see the e-mail address, so I'm just going to say a couple of words to those of you without accounts that I didn't e-mail. **To whoever left a review with no name**, I couldn't see your e-mail address so I'm afraid I couldn't send you the missing scene, try putting some spaces between your e-mail address and I'll try to get it to you, but I am so pleased to hear that you are enjoying this story so much and I hope you enjoy this chapter too! **Lia Comfort** – You are so sweet, thank you so much for your lovely words, and I take it it's a good thing my words make you blush?! I couldn't send you anything as I couldn't see your e-mail address, but if you leave it again with some spaces in it I'll get the missing scene sent to you. High Heels and Blushes is on its way too. I hope you like this update! **Denay** – Wow, well done for reading this in one sitting and I'm so pleased you enjoyed the story. About Tom and Jade… I don't think I have ever confirmed or denied that they are having an affair… and I'm not going to right now either, but all will be revealed soon, same goes for Lucas finding out about Nathan and Haley's relationship. Haley is on the pill so I hope that answers that question of yours and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Thanks to Bethany who read through some of this and also to Kristen and Rebecca who read through the whole chapter for me, you girls are all great.**

**Right, so on with this chapter, do we think Haley's going to go to Vegas or not..?**

**Chapter Eighteen**

"Nathan, there is no way that I can just come to Vegas, don't be absurd!" Haley said as she rolled her eyes at his latest crazy idea. "What the hell am I supposed to do, just jump on a plane and forget all about work?" She asked him. As much as she wanted to go and visit him, she knew that there was no way she could just up and leave, she had responsibilities, a job to do here at his company, hell she'd only just been promoted, what a way to jeopardize that, leaving for Vegas without so much as a word to her boss. No way. She couldn't do it. She wasn't going to let anything get in the way of her promotion; she valued her career far too much to do anything that could potentially ruin what she had worked so hard for.

"Yes." Nathan replied to her simply as he lay back down in the bed in his hotel room. He didn't understand what was so wrong about her coming to Vegas? He missed her, and he knew that he couldn't be apart from her for another six nights, he needed her in his arms, he needed to spend time with her, especially after the crazy couple of weeks they had just had. Now that they were having a supposedly normal relationship with each other, where nothing was holding them back, what was wrong with him wanting to spend some time with his girlfriend while he was away on a business trip? All of his business associates that he was attending these meetings with had brought their wives and girlfriends along with them, so why the hell couldn't he also?

Haley sighed deeply and tried to find the words that would help him to understand why she couldn't just get on that plane. "Nathan, I've just been promoted, you know how much my work means to me and I can't just leave without a word to Lucas, I just can't. I don't want to risk giving Luke any reason whatsoever to take that promotion away from me." She explained as she leaned back in her chair and ran her hand through her hair. He must know how important her job was to her, so she couldn't fathom why he was throwing what could only be considered as an utterly ridiculous idea that could never materialise at her?

"Haley that's a ridiculous excuse, Lucas works for me and I wouldn't let him take that promotion away from you regardless of any decision you make, and especially when that decision is to spend some time with me." Nathan returned, wondering why she was arguing with him about this. He'd known as soon as the idea of her coming to visit him in Vegas had popped into his head that she would come up with a bunch of excuses as to why she couldn't come out there, but he had thought they would centre around him being too busy with meetings to spend time with her for it to be worth it, not her worrying about her promotion. Was she crazy, did she honestly think that he would ever let Luke demote her?

"And what is that supposed to mean?" She questioned him with a raised eyebrow. He surely wasn't suggesting what she thought he was, was he? He really couldn't be that stupid, as to suggest that her job security had magically been cranked up a notch because of who she was dating, surely?

"I mean, you know, your job is safe. If Lucas doesn't want you to work for him anymore then I'll find you something else to do there. That's one of the perks about going out with the owner baby." Nathan returned in a teasing tone.

Haley furrowed her brow as she looked at the phone, finding herself getting more than a little annoyed at him. "So what, now that I'm going out with the boss I can do what I please?" She snapped at him, angered by his utterly preposterous behaviour. How could he not understand that her career was important to her? Didn't he understand that she didn't want to be given any special treatment? She'd worked so damn hard to get where she was and now that the boss of the company she worked for just happened to be her boyfriend, did he honestly think that it changed the dynamic of not only her relationship with him, but also her relationship with his company as well? She didn't want that.

"Well yeah, Hales, you can. You know, you can carry on working, if that's what you want…" Nathan said as he wondered why she was starting to snap at him like she was. All he was trying to say to her was that she could come out to Vegas and see him if she wanted to, and that he would sort it all out for her, why was she making a mountain out of what he barely considered to be a molehill?

"If that's what I want?" Haley interrupted him quickly before he managed to dig himself an even bigger hole than the one he'd already managed to. Was he being serious? "What the hell does that mean?" She hissed at him down the phone, trying her best to control the volume of her voice so that no one else in the office could hear what she was saying, which she was finding incredibly difficult to do given how annoyed she was at him right now.

Nathan was by now utterly perplexed by her seemingly out of control and irrational behaviour. He took a deep breath before continuing. "It means, Hales, that you have options now, you don't have to carry on working if you don't want to." He explained.

Haley all but snorted down the phone at him. She actually couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth right now; didn't he know her at all? "I have options now?" She said, outraged at what was coming out of his mouth. "So what the hell does that mean Nathan? That I now have the option to sit at home and wait on your ass all fucking day? Cook your meals and have them placed on the dining room table ready for when you get in from work, the minute you walk through the front door? Tidy the apartment and spend all of your hard earned money on absolute shit for myself? All because you are my boyfriend now?" She spat down the phone at him. He should be glad of the fact that he wasn't standing in front of her right now because that last comment that had come out of his mouth would have earned him a slap around the face.

Nathan immediately rolled his eyes at her words. All he was merely suggesting was that if she didn't want to work then she didn't have to. He knew that she valued her independence, but as he had said, he was just giving her options, that was all. How they had managed to start a conversation where he had been teasing her about phone sex and somehow managed to get to the point where she was all but accusing him of making her a slave in her own home he didn't know. All he did know was that it was far too early for him to be having this kind of conversation with her. All he wanted was for her to come out here and be with him. "Hales, I'm not forcing you to do anything. I was just stating the fact that you have choices available to you now." He replied with a yawn as he stretched out on his bed.

Haley shook her head at him even though she knew that he couldn't see her. She was absolutely livid at him and his incredulous behaviour. She knew that he would think that she was overreacting about all of this but she couldn't help the way that she felt about what he was saying to her. "Nathan, you're right, I do have choices, but my relationship with you hasn't changed any of those choices that I have available to myself. The choices that I have are to do with my career and where I work, not when and if I work. I will not be one of those trophy wives that you snotty businessmen seem to love so much. I'm sorry, I value my career too much and I will not just sink away into the shadows because it fits in with your plans for our future." She huffed at him.

Nathan sighed heavily and rolled over in the bed. "Haley will you please calm down." He said sternly, ready for this conversation to finish so they could get on with discussing his plan to get her to come out to Vegas, if she'd still come that is. If he'd have known that his comments about her not working were going to offend her as much as they had he would have kept his mouth firmly shut and avoided the verbal backlash he was getting from her altogether.

"No Nathan I will not calm down." Haley snapped at him. "I am honestly quite offended at what you're suggesting I do with my life." She continued. How could he be so flippant about this, say what he wanted to say and expect her to just accept it and then remain calm about it all? Didn't she have a say in her own life now that they were officially together?

"I didn't mean to offend you Hales." Nathan replied while rolling his eyes at her highly dramatic response to his suggestion.

"Well you did Nathan. What makes you think that my career is less valuable than yours? I know I don't own a multi-million dollar company or anything but I still work damn hard and think that my aspirations and goals demand the same respect as yours do. Would you be willing to give it all up and stay at home in the apartment all day?" She questioned him.

"Haley you're being ridiculous. Come on, can we not get back to the topic at hand?" Nathan asked as he threw the covers off his body and stepped out of the bed, heading towards the lounge, finding himself absolutely exasperated with how she was droning on at him about this.

"I am discussing the topic at hand Nathan." Haley snapped back at him, not ready to let this one lie just yet. She was still incredibly pissed off that he had these thoughts about her and the direction he thought her life should take.

"No you're not Haley, you are labouring a passing comment I made to death. I'm sorry that I offended you with what I said, okay? Of course I understand that your career is important to you, I never hinted that it wasn't and I respect your ambitions and careers choices just as much as I do my own. I just didn't know what you wanted from the future, that's all; we've never had that kind of discussion. But now I know, so can we please get past this?" He pleaded with her down the phone; really not wanting to have to start the long day he had ahead of him with Haley being mad at him over something he intended to be only a flippant remark.

Haley pursed her lips together in consideration. As much as what he had said to her upset her, she didn't want to be angry with him over it, especially when he was away from her for so long still. And he had apologised to her, and like he said, they hadn't had a conversation like this before, so how was he to know that she wouldn't want to stay at home? "Okay, but you understand now why I can't just drop everything and head out to see you?" She asked him, hoping for his understanding in return for her forgiving him.

Nathan sighed as he sat down on the sofa in the living room; the proposal document that he was supposed to have looked through last night was glaring at him from where he had left it on the coffee table yesterday. "Hales I still want you to come out here. I miss you far too much to not see you for another six nights." He said softly down the phone to her, relieved that she wasn't still angry at him.

"I miss you too, but it's just not feasible for me to come out there." Haley replied while fiddling with the telephone cord and sighing quietly to herself. She really did want to come out and see him but she just couldn't see any possible way to do it. "We won't be able to do it without raising suspicions about our relationship."

"I know baby. I just want everything to be out in the open though, you know, I'm tired of hiding." Nathan said as he picked up the proposal document and placed it in his lap, flicking through the pages absentmindedly as he tried to come up with a way to get Haley out here with him without raising any suspicions back at the office.

"Well we're going to have to hide it for a while I think, especially with the promotion. I can just imagine what will be running through people's heads if they found out we're together at exactly the same time that I get a promotion." Haley reasoned as she picked up her pen and started to tap it on her desk.

"Yeah I know it doesn't look good." Nathan sighed. It wasn't like he could hold Haley's promotion against her, and he really was proud of her for working so hard, but he couldn't help but feel that this was all just shit timing. "I'll give it some more thought and then let you know if I come up with anything. But I mean it Hales; I really do want you to come out here, I miss you far too much."

"I know." Haley responded quietly. She honestly couldn't think how he would be able to come up with something that warranted her going out there. And even if he did come up with this ingenious plan he was concocting, she didn't know if she'd have the guts to go out there anyway, she really didn't want anyone at all to even have the flittering thought that something were possibly going on between herself and Nathan, least of all Lucas, and worst of all Tom, not until the commotion surrounding her promotion had at least died down slightly.

Nathan furrowed his brow as he heard the silence from Haley. He knew that she was admitting defeat. He knew that she didn't think it were possible for her to come out to Vegas, despite how much she wanted to. "Haley, I will come up with something. I'll think about it and call you later on and let you know okay?" He said as he got up from the sofa, placing the proposal document back on the coffee table and heading through his bedroom towards the bathroom, needing to get ready for the day of meetings he had ahead of him.

"Okay." Haley responded, sighing deeply. She honestly couldn't for the life of her think of a way that Nathan would be able to run this past Lucas without raising his suspicions around their true intentions for this trip, so she had resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't be seeing Nathan for another six nights, six night of absolute torture.

"I've got to get ready but I'll keep in touch. I love you." Nathan said as he walked into the bathroom and switched on the shower.

Haley heard the shower running and groaned out loud. "You're doing that on purpose aren't you?" She moaned at him.

"What?" Nathan asked with a smirk as he grabbed some of the toiletries the hotel provided and threw them in the shower.

"Running the shower while I'm on the phone with you?" Haley said as she rolled her eyes while the images of Nathan's naked, wet body popped up everywhere in her mind. God, how the hell was she supposed to concentrate on work while she was thinking about his hands running up and down his toned body? The soap suds dripping down his chest…

Nathan chuckled. "Maybe." He responded cheekily. "I might be trying to sway your decision about coming out here to see me."

"Believe me, it's working." Haley giggled back at him as she shook her head at his antics. "I'll let you get on. I love you too and I'll speak to you later."

"Bye Hales." Nathan said with a smile as he heard her place the phone back on the receiver. He threw his phone back onto the bed from the bathroom and then started to get ready for the day ahead while trying to come up with an idea which would allow Haley to come out to Vegas for what would look like legitimate business reasons. He knew that it wasn't going to be easy.

~*~

Haley had been sitting at her desk for the past two hours speaking to various people over at Camberley and Son. She was still trying to book a site visit for herself and Lucas, as well as book some meetings, especially with Mr. Camberley as soon as the site visit had been completed, so that if Scott Investment Management wanted to plough ahead with the opportunity, they would be well placed to do so almost immediately. However, conflicting calendars and schedules were making this much more difficult than she had originally anticipated, and it looked like the site visit and meetings wouldn't be able to take place until at the very earliest during the week after next. She sighed as she compared calendars, wishing that by some miracle Mr. Camberley's schedule would lighten a little but realistically she knew that it wasn't going to happen. She was busy wondering if she could swap some of Lucas' meetings around when she heard him interrupt her deep concentration.

"Hi Haley, how's things?" Lucas asked as he walked into his office and placed his briefcase down on the table before he wandered back outside to talk to her.

"Not too bad, although I can't seem to find any room in the calendar for a site visit to Moore Place until the week after next." Haley said with a scowl as she placed the calendar printouts down on her desk and looked up at Lucas. "How did the site visits with Carly go?" She asked.

"So so, she does have some good properties that are about to go on the market but obviously our main focus is on Moore Place at the moment. There was one property she had which I think we will probably be willing to invest quite heavily in. I'll take you out to see it sometime next week perhaps. So how have things been going here? I feel like I have been out of the office for ages!" Lucas asked.

"I know it seems like I haven't seen you in quite a while even though it's only been a day and a half!" Haley joked with him.

Lucas smiled before remembering what had happened the last time he had seen Haley and then frowned. "Haley have you got a couple of minutes?" He asked as he gestured towards his office.

Haley immediately stopped laughing and wondered what the hell he could want to discuss with her that had caused him to get that look on his face again. She instantly found herself getting nervous as the look that was currently spread across his face was the very same look he'd had when he had questioned her about her living situation with Nathan a couple of days ago. Instantly, she searched her brain for what he could possibly want to discuss with her before quickly wishing that she hadn't. Had Mr. Felton seen her underneath the desk in Nathan's office? _Fuck, that meant that he had to know about her relationship with Nathan! _What else could he possibly want to discuss with her? She hadn't done anything else that could warrant such a serious expression to be plastered all over her boss' face. She gulped as she stood up from her chair and followed Lucas into his office, her head bowed down to the floor. She had the same feeling you would get when you were being called into the Principal's office after you had done something you knew that you shouldn't have. How the fuck was she going to talk herself out of this one?

Lucas sat down at his table and moved his briefcase onto the floor as he watched Haley sit down opposite him. He furrowed his brow and placed both of his hands up on the table, wondering how the hell he could broach this subject. He had known from his previous discussion with Haley that she didn't really want to talk to him about her living situation with Nathan, but after what happened at that client evening, he felt like he had to say something. Even if it were to just get her thinking about what she was doing, even if it made her realize that she could talk to someone about it, well, at least that was better than her closing herself off from the situation. It was always better to get things out in the open, wasn't it? He fiddled with his hands as he cleared his throat, before looking up at Haley, who was watching him play with his hands with worried eyes. He tried to find the appropriate words to start but nothing seemed to work in his mind, so he just went with the words that were playing around in his head at that moment, hoping that he was being tactful enough to not embarrass her, but also be blunt enough so that she would know that he knew something was wrong. "Haley, Nathan's behaving appropriately towards you, isn't he?" He asked as he watched her face for any clues that she would inadvertently tell him.

Haley immediately felt her cheeks redden and she sunk down in her chair. She couldn't look him in the eyes; she just couldn't bring herself to do it, so instead she watched him fiddle with his hands intently. _Oh God. _What the hell was she supposed to say to this? She guessed she could just answer the question. That might be a good start. "Yes, of course he is behaving appropriately." She muttered as she closed her eyes, waiting for what she knew would follow, most probably a case of twenty questions. She wasn't lying to him. He was behaving appropriately, he was her boyfriend and he was nothing short of amazing with her.

Lucas took another deep breath as he looked down at his hands and then looked up at Haley again, wishing that he could have got a hold of his brother yesterday and this morning so that he could hash this out with him instead, but he seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth, in typical Nathan Scott fashion. He had tried to call him ever since he had left that client event, he would have had it out with him then and there but fighting in front of clients was not going to help matters, so he had decided to wait, which he now realised was a mistake given that Nathan was now ignoring him. What he had seen displayed from his brother at that client evening was nothing short of completely unacceptable and inappropriate behaviour, and if he was being honest with himself, he would have no problems punching his brother repeatedly for what he had done. "Haley, are you sure, because from what I saw at the client evening his actions were nothing less than absolutely intolerable." Lucas said softly, really hoping that she would open up to him about it all.

Haley bit down on her lip and practically had to sit on her hands to stop herself from having a major freak out. This was just so embarrassing, she really had thought that Mr Felton couldn't see her underneath that desk, she had thought that she was being careful, careless yes, but careful nonetheless about how well hidden she had been. How the hell was she supposed to speak to him on the phone without dying of complete mortification? She really didn't know what to say to Lucas so instead she chose to stay quiet and braced herself for the lecture and no doubt the demotion that would follow, either that or the sacking. Maybe she shouldn't have been so hasty with Nathan's suggestions about job security earlier, it looked like she was about to need it.

Lucas realised that she still wasn't talking to him and he didn't quite know what to do about it. Should he just blurt out what he had seen? Or should he continue to be patient and allow her to tell him in her own time? But what if she felt like she didn't have anyone to talk to? What if she felt embarrassed about what was going on and felt like she couldn't reach out and talk to anyone about it? Maybe she was waiting for someone to ask her so that she could start talking about it? He looked down at his hands again before deciding that he was just going to ask her flat out and see how she reacted, that would probably give him the answer he needed, with or without her verbal confirmation. "Nathan isn't being aggressive towards you at home is he?" Lucas asked quickly.

Haley instantly snapped her head up at Lucas, her eyes wide with shock. "What the hell gave you that idea?" She said with her mouth hanging open in utter surprise. Wasn't he about to call her out on her relationship with Nathan? Wasn't that the sole purpose of this whole conversation? How on earth had he come up with that one from what Mr Felton had seen? It just didn't make any sense whatsoever. She'd been hiding underneath Nathan's desk giving him a blow job; she hadn't been crumpled in a corner with bruises on her body or anything.

Lucas could tell from her reaction that what he had thought had been severely incorrect. _Oh shit! _He thought to himself, knowing that he had just made a massive fool of himself in front of Haley. "Oh God. I'm so sorry Haley for jumping to conclusions like that!" He responded, completely mortified at what he had just implied.

Haley managed to just about close her mouth shut and rolled her eyes. "Jumping to inappropriate conclusions seems to run in the Scott family." She muttered to herself, thinking back to what had caused the latest drama between herself and Nathan; him thinking that she was seeing Tom behind his back, which was just utterly absurd.

Lucas couldn't help but chuckle at her remark, unsure of whether he was supposed to hear it or not. "And what is that supposed to mean?" He joked with her as he continued to laugh at her comment.

_Oh fuck!_ Haley thought to herself, had he heard her? _Shit, shit, shit._ That had actually been quite rude of her. What a thing to say to your boss! "Erm… I just mean… I mean Nathan can be quite judgemental at times before knowing all the facts about a situation, that's all, I didn't mean anything by it I just..." She stuttered, wishing that the ground would just open up underneath her and swallow her whole. Why couldn't she ever stay quiet when she needed to be, and why the hell did she have to ramble so damn much!

Lucas by now was laughing wholeheartedly at Haley before he decided to save her from her misery. "Haley, don't worry, honestly, its fine, I know how Nathan can be and to say that he can be hot headed at the best of times would be a complete understatement. I'm honestly quite surprised that you have managed to put up with him for so long. I thought as soon as he had announced that he was moving into the apartment that you would be out of there by the time the weekend was over!" He confessed.

Haley could feel herself blushing at his statement, knowing fore well that the reason she had stayed was because she was in love with him so much. She hated the fact that she was lying to everyone about their relationship but it really did seem like the only available option to them both at the moment, what with everything else that was going on around them right now. She looked up from where she had been looking down at the table and could see Lucas watching her and so she swiftly decided to change the subject. "So what gave you the idea that Nathan was behaving inappropriately towards me?" She asked, curious as to what he could have seen or heard that would cause him to think such a thing.

"I just saw him walk up to you while you were chatting away to that person from Camberley and Son who arrived late, he talked to you for a few seconds and then he literally grabbed your wrist and marched you out of that conference room. It was probably nothing but from where I was standing it didn't look like he was being very gentle with you. What was that all about anyway?" He asked. He had seen his brother's face as he approached Haley and he had been fuming, about what he didn't know but something had definitely irked him.

_Oh great, nice way to walk into that one Hales! _She mentally slapped herself. Now she had to quickly come up with yet another believable explanation. How she had managed to become such a good liar she didn't know but one of these days she was sure that Lucas was going to catch her out, it was probably only a matter of time before she let something slip. She thought through what Lucas had just told her and came up with the best thing she could, which wasn't actually far from the truth either and so it would probably aid her abilities to lie better than she usually could. "Nathan thought that Mr Camberley's colleague was flirting with me and so he came over to get me away from him." She explained.

Lucas furrowed his brow as he contemplated Haley's words. "But what would it matter to him if he were flirting with you?" He asked, perplexed by his brother's unusual reaction to this person flirting with Haley. Why shouldn't someone be flirting with her? Okay, so it was a client event and perhaps wasn't the most appropriate of places but still, what business of his was it to just carry her away like that?

Haley could feel her cheeks redden even more than they had been previously. How the hell was she going to dig her way out of this never ending pit that she seemed to have buried herself in? She took a deep breath while trying to come up with yet another plausible explanation, trying not to stall for time too much, that would be far too obvious, wouldn't it? "I don't know, maybe he just wanted to help me, maybe it was a gracious act of male chivalry, maybe he was jealous?" Haley threw at him, hoping to divert his attention from her face with the many reasons she was giving him.

Lucas burst out laughing at her suggestions. "Haley, are you being serious with me, or have you not met my brother? Nathan doesn't have a chivalrous bone in his body outside of business operations, and jealous? What would he have to be jealous about? I mean, it's not like you and him are dating or anything is it?" He boomed with laughter.

Forget the ground swallowing her whole, a one way ticket to hell would be a far better fate than the one set before her right now. What the fuck was she supposed to say to that? He was laughing, so she decided to laugh right alongside him, almost cringing at the fake noise that was coming out of her mouth. Why was she so bad at doing this? And why the hell had she put herself bang smack in the middle of a situation where it required her to be an excellent liar, when she was clearly anything but? Oh yeah, that was it, she loved the guy she was doing this all for to death.

Lucas' smile grew even broader as the thought of Haley and his brother being together continued to play around in his mind. They were like total opposites, totally at other ends of the pole, he couldn't picture a couple less meant for each other if he tried. "I mean, you and Nathan, what a catastrophe that would be?!" He continued laughing.

Haley had to fight the fact that she wanted to frown so much at his words because she had to continue laughing along with him or it would all fall to pieces and everything would be revealed and just… _fuck! _What the hell did he find so amusing about the thought of her dating Nathan anyway. Did he not think that she was good enough for him, was that it? She couldn't help the doubts and questions that were forming in her head, hating the fact that she had to continue to play along with this façade when all she wanted to do now was run into the restrooms and hide. She looked over at Lucas who was still laughing and she had never wanted to slap someone so hard in all her life. How dare he laugh at her like that. "I know that would be a complete disaster." She replied in an even tone before standing up from the table, needing to get the hell out of this room before she started to cry. "I have work to be getting on with, so do excuse me." She said as she walked out of his office and almost ran to the restrooms.

Lucas continued to chuckle to himself as he watched Haley walk out of his office and then he walked over to his desk, taking his briefcase with him as he fired up his computer. He still couldn't get that mental image of Haley and Nathan being together out of his head and it was still making him chuckle. That would be one hell of a dysfunctional relationship.

~*~

Nathan hadn't been listening to a word since he set foot in this conference room half an hour ago. Someone from the hotel was giving a presentation and every time Nathan snapped his head back to the room instead of thinking about a plan to get Haley to come out here, he found that the page on his documents didn't match the page that was being shown on the screen, even though he had been sure that he had been flicking the pages at exactly the same time as everyone else in the room. He sighed as he rummaged through the pile of papers on the table in front of him, trying to find the correct place, and when he was satisfied that he had, he switched his brain off again.

He still had yet to come up with a valid reason for her to come out here, at least one which he could run past his brother without alerting his inquisitive mind. It was frustrating the hell out of him, especially as he knew that the only way he could focus on these meetings would be to know that Haley was waiting for him in their hotel room. It would make him much more eager to participate and listen so that he could get out of there as quickly as he could. He zoned back into the current conversation and found himself completely lost as to what they were discussing.

"Well I honestly feel like we need to press on with this issue as quickly as possible, especially if the valuation is all wrong." Mr Felton said. "It is pinnacle to the deal and therefore we must ensure that its right."

"I agree, without an acceptable valuation, then it's absolutely pointless us discussing this proposal as it just won't materialise." One of Mr Felton's associates continued.

Nathan watched each of the men speak in turn before turning his head to Sam, who was running the presentation; waiting to hear what he would say about performing a revaluation of the building, as something like that could cut the value of the deal significantly and would certainly not be in the hotel managements' best interests at all.

"Okay, if you feel that is necessary then I don't believe that we have a choice." Sam resigned, knowing better than to argue with Mr Felton of all people.

"Excellent. Now we just need to find someone to perform the valuation." Mr Felton said with a delighted smile given that the deal seemed to be moving in his favour.

"Well I can make some calls." Sam said with a little too much enthusiasm.

Mr Felton raised an eyebrow at him. "By all means, have one of your contacts perform a valuation but I would also like one performed from our side as well, you know, to even out the numbers a little." He interrupted, knowing exactly what Sam was trying to pull.

"Very well." Sam replied dejectedly.

"Right so all we need to do is ring around and find a property valuation expert." Mr Felton said while looking around the room, clearly seeing that everyone whom he had travelling with him was of significant importance and too valuable to the meetings they were currently participating in to be missing them for something as trivial arranging appointments. "I knew I should have brought my assistant out here with me." He continued to mutter.

All of a sudden it was like a light bulb had flicked on in Nathan's head. The idea had come to him so perfectly, and it wouldn't be like Lucas could even argue with him about it because it was something that Mr Felton had requested. And Haley couldn't reject the idea as she would be working, and learning, while she was here. It was sheer perfection. "I have someone back at the office in New York, I think you will have spoken to her at some point Mr Felton, her name's Haley James, she's Luke's secretary. She has just been promoted and I'm sure she would jump at the opportunity to come out here and learn about the bidding process, as well as be on hand to handle all of our administrative needs." He said quickly, before anyone else could jump in with their bright idea.

"Oh yes I have spoken to Haley a number of times. She seems very efficient. Are you sure Lucas won't mind us stealing away his personal assistant?" Mr Felton asked, not wanting to cause any animosity between Nathan and his brother.

"No not at all, in fact, I'm sure he will only be grateful for the experience she'll receive from being here. I can go and make a couple of calls right now and see if I can get her out here by this evening." Nathan responded hastily before pulling his phone out of his pocket and practically skipping out of the room as he dialled Haley's number. The plan was just genius, absolute genius.

Nathan stepped out of the conference room and called Haley's mobile, hearing it ring through to voicemail. He was too impatient to leave her a message and so he hung up immediately and called her again, only it rang through to voicemail once more. He sighed in frustration as he tried another unsuccessful time before heading back into the meeting room. "I think she's in a meeting, I'll slip out and try her again in half an hour or so, hopefully she'll be back at her desk by then." He said as he sat back down in his seat, wondering what she was doing and why the hell she wasn't answering her phone.

An hour and four unsuccessful tries to Haley's mobile later, Nathan had given up on Haley answering her phone completely. He decided to bite the bullet and call his brother, running it through him before booking Haley a ticket to come out and see him. He slipped out of the conference room and pulled out his phone and then dialled his brother's number at the office, placing the phone to his ear as he waited for the call to connect.

"Lucas Scott speaking." Lucas said as he picked up his ringing phone and leant back in his chair.

"Luke its Nate." Nathan said once he heard his brother's greeting.

"And the disappearing man appears!" Lucas jested. "Where the hell are you, I've been trying to get hold of you?"

"I'm in Vegas…" Nathan started but found that he was interrupted by his brother cutting into his conversation.

"Vegas?" Lucas questioned as he sat up straight in his chair. "What on earth are you doing in Vegas?"

"I'm here with a few of Mr Felton's colleagues and I was…" Nathan started to talk again but once more found that his brother interrupted him.

"Oh is this to do with what he wanted to talk to you about at that client evening?" Lucas asked as he hunched himself over his desk, trying to find a spare piece of paper so that he could make some notes about the juicy business deal his brother was no doubt about to reveal to him. "What's it all about?"

"Jesus Luke, if you'd shut up and stop interrupting me every second I might be able to tell you!" Nathan snapped as he ran his free hand through his hair in exasperation.

"Alright, alright, I'll stay quiet." Lucas muttered.

"Good." Nathan said with a sigh before continuing. "Basically Mr Felton wants Scott Investment Management to start up a Joint Venture with Felton Development to buy the hotel and casino I'm staying in and completely remodel it."

"Wow that sounds like a really good opportunity. I presume the price they're willing to sell at is good?" Lucas asked.

"Well that's where the problems have been encountered. It seems that the management here have had a more than optimistic stab at the valuation, in fact, I'm pretty sure it's downright ridiculous what they're asking from us." Nathan explained.

"So all we need to do is enlist an Independent Property Valuation Specialist and then take the value that they give us and then add on the extras, come up with our own price for this deal." Lucas said simply.

"Which is exactly what we are planning on doing, only there is a small problem. Everyone here is tied up in meetings all day and we need someone to help with all the admin stuff…" Nathan said, hinting to his brother that there was more news coming. He suddenly found himself quite nervous about asking Luke if he could borrow Haley, purely for the fact that he could and rightly should be able to say no to him. He honestly didn't know how he was going to cope for another six nights if he did say no. He'd just have to convince him that it was a good thing for Haley's career and would mean less training for him to complete for her promotion, everybody wins, right?

Lucas sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. He knew exactly what his brother was up to, why else would he be calling him and telling him all this and speaking in that voice, the one where he had something that he wanted to ask and he wasn't quite sure how it was all going to go down, he wasn't sure what type of reaction he was going to get from him. "Damn it Nathan!" Lucas muttered.

"Look Lucas, I wouldn't usually ask, it's just that Mr Felton really needs someone to help with the whole admin side of this deal and I know that you have just promoted Haley, so I thought it would be a really good opportunity for her to see what happens at these things, help her understand the process a little more." Nathan started to explain, and he really did mean what he was saying, he knew how valuable this whole thing would be to her career. He just hoped that his brother didn't spot the ulterior motive behind him wanting Haley out here in Vegas with him.

Lucas sighed heavily. "Why the hell can't you ask your own secretary to go out there Nathan? Why do you need mine for crying out loud?" He huffed as he dropped the pen he was holding as he leant back in his chair and ran his free hand through his hair in frustration.

"My secretary is going on holiday at the end of the week so I can't ask her." Nathan replied as he started to pace up and down the corridor outside of their meeting room, unsure as to whether Lucas would actually say yes to him.

Lucas huffed down the phone. "Well why can't Mr Felton use one of his assistants?" He asked.

"Because I offered him one of ours." Nathan snapped back at his brother before quickly regaining his composure. Shouting at Lucas about all of this was not going to help him get any closer to him agreeing to this, he needed to keep a hold of his emotions and remember that to Lucas, this was just about business, no personal feelings could be shown. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "Look Luke, I know this is last minute but this would be such a good opportunity for her, how many people at her level get the chance to come out and see how a deal is constructed, practically from the beginning? You know that it will only aid her understanding which in turn will help you out in the long run. I don't understand why you're so against this."

"And I don't understand why you are being so insistent Nathan?" Lucas threw back at his brother. He couldn't help but think back to what Haley had said to him, about his brother acting chivalrously, about him being jealous that someone was flirting with Haley at that client evening. He furrowed his brow as he thought more about it. "Why do you want her there so much?" He asked hesitantly.

Nathan sensed the change in his tone and he knew that he was entering incredibly dangerous territory. He knew that he needed to be as convincing as he could possibly be. "It's not that I want her here Lucas, I just need someone who can help with the admin side of things on this particular deal. And given that you have just promoted her, well she must be good right? And we wouldn't want to show Mr Felton anything less than the best employees we have at the company, would we?" He said, hoping that the tone of his voice was as professional as it could be, and he also hoped that his brother was buying it, because he was one hundred percent screwed if he wasn't.

Lucas rocked himself from left to right in his chair, contemplating Nathan's words. He was right; of course, Haley was excellent at her job and was probably the obvious choice, especially as the deal was centred around property, which just so happened to be the division of the company that she worked in. But he still had that nagging thought in his head and as much as he thought the idea was completely preposterous, he couldn't help the curiosity. He thought he should voice it, but he decided not to. The idea was too ridiculous to merit words. He sighed in resignation, knowing that he shouldn't be so selfish; this realty was a good opportunity for her. He'd just have to cope without an assistant for a couple of days. "Fine I will talk to her and see if she wants to go." He replied.

Nathan practically jumped ten feet in the air at the elation of hearing his brother agree to this. If he had him on board, then there was no way that Haley could not come out. It was all falling into place very nicely. "Excellent, tell Haley I will book her ticket and leave it for her at the airport desk, I'll contact her with flight times and all that. She'll need to be on a flight this evening." He said as he tried to reign in the happiness from his voice and appear all business like, but it was incredibly hard to when all he could think about was the fact that he'd have Haley in his arms again at some point this evening.

"She hasn't agreed to come out there yet Nathan, don't you think you're jumping the gun a bit by booking her ticket before she's even said yes?" Lucas asked as he frowned at the tone his brother was now using. He seemed to be a little too happy about that piece of news.

"I doubt she'll say no." Nathan returned. "I've got to go and book the tickets. Tell Haley I'll be in touch." He said as he hung up the phone.

As soon as Nathan had hung up the phone he called the airline and booked Haley a first class ticket on the five thirty flight from New York which would get her into Vegas at around eight o'clock. He knew that he had a dinner reservation at seven o'clock this evening, and so by the time she had picked up her luggage and checked into his room, he would be in the bar waiting for her. He was so excited to see her, he couldn't believe how easy it had been to talk Lucas into allowing her to come out here and he knew that there was no reason for her not to come now. As soon as the flight had been booked, he called her mobile again, hearing it ring through to voicemail once more, only this time he left her a message. "Hales, it's me, Lucas is fine with you coming out, Mr Felton needs some admin help so you'll actually be working, so it's all turned out perfectly. I've booked your flight, the ticket is waiting for you at the airport, and you're on the five thirty flight. By the time you arrive at the hotel we should be in the bar on the lower ground floor. I'll leave a key to the room for you at reception; just give them my name when you arrive. I can't wait to see you. Anyway, I'd better go and give Mr Felton the good news. Love you." He said before hanging up and walking delightedly back into the conference room.

~*~

Haley had since returned from the restrooms and decided to engulf herself in her work for the last two hours. She had decided that Lucas was just talking bullshit. If he didn't think that Nathan could be chivalrous, well then he really didn't know his brother as well as he thought he did, because Nathan was loving and caring and just amazing with her. And Nathan had obviously thought that he had something to be jealous about, otherwise he wouldn't have acted the way that he had at the client evening. So after much deliberation she decided that Lucas' words weren't worth the bother and trouble she had first thought they had warranted. She was just about to pick up her work phone and call Mr Camberley's office when she felt someone standing behind her.

"Hello Haley." Tom said, amused at how jumpy she seemed to be in his presence.

"Jesus Christ Tom, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Haley hissed at him as she turned her chair around so that she could face him, rolling her eyes at the way he was smirking at her. "What the hell do you want?" She asked in a harsh tone.

"You know exactly what I want Haley." Tom said as he glanced down at her hands, which were gripping the arm of her chair incredibly tightly. His gaze lingered on her hands before he lifted his eyes back up to hers again. "I must say it's rather disappointing that you're not wearing your engagement ring, I thought I told you that we weren't over."

"And I told you that we were over Tom." Haley returned sharply as she gripped onto the arm of her chair that little bit tighter, which Tom seemed to notice as she heard him chuckle at her.

Tom raised his eyebrow at her once he had finished chuckling at the way she acted in his presence. He leaned down so that he was at her ear, feeling Haley recoil away from him slightly. "Well we aren't." He said before pulling away from her.

Haley could feel her heart rate increasing and her palms were sweating. She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths. She didn't know what the hell was wrong with him, why couldn't he just accept that they were over? Why was he trying to claw back what was ultimately the worst kind of relationship that had ever existed? Didn't he understand that they just didn't work as a couple? "Look Tom, there is no way that I am ever going to get back with you." Haley said in a severe tone as she opened up her eyes and looked at him and then she reached down to get her bag from where she had left it underneath her desk. She pulled out her purse and found the engagement ring sitting inside of it. She pulled it out and held it out to Tom. "You might as well take this because I have no need for it."

"You do have a need for it Haley. You're still mine, so why don't you put it on your finger where it's supposed to be?" Tom returned in a stern voice.

"How about you take it and leave me in peace?" Haley snapped back at him as she thrust the ring in his direction, wishing that he would just take the damn thing off her hands.

Tom looked deeply into her eyes and found himself growing incredibly furious with her. "Do as I say Haley." He returned in a low voice. "Believe me; you don't want to even imagine the consequences that would happen if you don't do as I ask."

Haley raised an eyebrow and even through the speed of her breathing and the beating of her heart had picked up in pace yet again, she continued to try to act as though him being here wasn't affecting her at all. She wasn't sure how successful her body was being at this front that she was putting on, but she continued to stare him down and was pleased with herself for not backing away from him.

"Ah Tom!" Lucas called over as he walked out of his office with the intention of finding Haley to talk to her about this trip to Vegas. "What brings you around here?" He asked.

"Just chatting to Haley and wanted to let you know that we have a breakfast meeting with Joe Frost tomorrow morning." Tom answered Lucas, still not removing his penetrating gaze from Haley.

"Excellent." Lucas returned. "I hope you don't mind but I really do need to speak with Haley for a second."

Tom raised his eyebrow at her before taking two steps back, pleased that the engagement ring still remained in her hands. "Of course not." He replied, before moving his gaze over to Lucas. "I'll see you first thing tomorrow Lucas. Bye Haley." He said as he turned and walked away from them both.

Haley sighed deeply in relief that she had managed to hold her own, kind of. At least she didn't just bend to his will. But she clasped her fist around the damn engagement ring that was still in her possession, wishing that he would have just taken it away from her. She shook her head at his retreating form before placing the ring back in her purse and throwing her bag back onto the floor underneath her desk. She then stood up and smiled over at Lucas, all thoughts of being angry at him for his comments earlier where now completely clouded by her disgust at Tom's behaviour towards her. What the hell did he think she was? Some sort of puppet that he could play around with? She realised that he wasn't worth her time and so she shook her head of thoughts about Tom and watched as Lucas walked over to her desk.

"Did you know that Nathan was in Vegas Haley?" Lucas asked once he had reached her desk.

Haley frowned and looked up at him. Was this a trick question? God she hated how she had to second guess everything, tread on eggshells whenever Nathan's name was mentioned. It was like this wall went up around her every time she heard his name mentioned and she felt like she had to dissect the intention of each question that was being asked. "He did mention it yes." She answered honestly. They shared an apartment; of course he would mention that he was going away for a week. That was reasonable behaviour, behaviour that you would expect from a roommate. She wasn't giving anything away by admitting that fact.

"Okay, well… don't feel like you have to say yes to this Haley, it's merely a suggestion." Lucas started as he fiddled with his hands.

"Okay…" Haley replied, laughing at his nervous behaviour and finding herself growing that little bit more uncomfortable because of it.

"Well I'm not sure how much Nathan told you about the reasons for the trip, but he is in the middle of discussing a proposal with Mr Felton and they have run into a few problems this morning. I understand if you don't want to go, especially as it would just be you and Nathan from Scott Investment Management out there, and Lord knows, now that you have the apartment to yourself you might want to bask in that before he comes home and starts all his annoying habits back up again." Lucas chuckled. "But..."

Haley's mouth had dropped open. How the hell had Nathan managed to swing this one? To Haley, it was seemingly perfect, she would be working, not going out to Vegas just because Nathan wanted her there, and he had already run it through Lucas, who was offering the opportunity to her. She couldn't hide her smile as she interrupted him; she was just far too excited. "Yes, I'll go!"

Lucas looked up at Haley and could see how excited she was about this and somehow he couldn't help but compare it to how insistent that Nathan had been about her coming out there to be with him. That nagging was still playing around in his head as he considered the completely bizarre thought that ran through his head before dismissing it quickly. It really was an outrageous idea, but by now, he was a little confused. "Haley I haven't even told you what you're going to be doing out there yet." He responded.

_Oh shit. _Haley thought as the smile quickly disappeared from her face. Before she could even think of anything to say back to him she heard Lucas begin to speak again.

"You know, Nathan was very insistent that it was you who got the chance to go out to Vegas." Lucas pondered out loud.

Haley knew that she needed to start talking quickly to stop his brain from walking down that line of thinking altogether because it was dangerous, incredibly dangerous. "Well when he mentioned his trip to Vegas to me I told him how much I wanted to go there." She said quickly. "So I can only presume that they need some help out there right?" She asked, knowing fore well that Lucas wouldn't disclose the business opportunity to her if this wasn't work related, client confidentiality and all that.

Lucas shook his head of his wandering thoughts and focussed back on Haley. "They need someone to go out there this afternoon to help with the admin side of the deal that is being discussed over there, yes." He responded.

"Well that does sound like a wonderful opportunity for me to learn a lot." Haley responded eagerly.

"Yes it would." Lucas said distractedly. Why the hell would Haley be acting so excited about a trip to Vegas with his brother? And why the hell would his brother even suggest that Haley go to Vegas when he had never worked with her before? There were literally so many other people he could have asked to join him on this trip, why did he want Haley to be there so much? In all honesty he found it all rather strange. This was probably one of the most important business deals that Scott Investment Management would be involved in this year, so surely Nathan would prefer to have someone out there with him that he knew and trusted rather than a complete stranger, well in the professional world anyway. He really didn't know how good Haley was at her job, except for hearing him rave on about her, but since when would he jeopardise the reputation of his company on hearsay?

"So when would I be going?" Haley asked as she picked up a pen from her desk and grabbed her pad of paper, ready to make some notes of the hotel and flight details.

Was he reading too much into this? It was just a business trip, maybe that's why Haley was getting so excited, as it was the first one she would have been on that required staying away for any length of time. That had to be it, it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that Nathan was there could it? Besides, she was engaged to Tom, and if he knew one thing about Haley it was the fact that she wouldn't cheat on her fiancé, she was an honest person and he could never see her doing anything like that. "Shouldn't you talk this through with Tom first Haley before you say yes?" Lucas asked, suddenly realising that she had accepted without even thinking to ask her fiancé whether he would be okay with her going.

"Oh no, he won't mind." Haley responded quickly as she waved her hand at Lucas, completely distracted by the thought that she would be with Nathan in a few hours, it was all so exciting.

"How can you be sure if you don't ask him?" Lucas asked. This was all getting more than a little baffling. If he were called away on a business trip last minute like this and he didn't run it past Brooke first, he'd be too scared to come home, she would be livid with him. "I really think you should check with him first Haley."

Haley sighed as she looked up at Lucas. "Honestly Luke, Tom and I are having a few problems." She said as she rolled her eyes at herself for lying once again, but it seemed to be the only way she was going to be able to get Lucas off her back. "He really won't mind me going out of town for a few days and I honestly think it would do our relationship some good, we need to give each other some space." _More like I need to run away from his obnoxious and outrageous behaviour. _She added silently to herself.

Lucas sighed before giving Haley the flight details that Nathan had given him earlier, as well as the name of the hotel which he was staying in. He watched Haley write the information down and couldn't help but notice the smile that lit up her whole face and that nagging voice in the back of his head suddenly started shouting a lot louder at him. He was struggling about what he should do, should he question it or should he bury it and just write it off as his imagination going crazy on him. But the curiosity was eating away at him and so he decided to just ask her once again. He stood up straight once he was sure that Haley had all the information and then stood awkwardly at her desk, clearing his throat. "Haley, are you sure everything is okay between you and Nathan?" He asked.

Haley immediately felt her face redden and she continued to look down at the piece of paper she had just written on. She couldn't think straight and it was obvious that Lucas suspected that something was wrong, otherwise he wouldn't have asked her if everything was okay, would he? _Shit. _She thought to herself. She should have been more in control of her emotions, she shouldn't have got so excited over it, it was a business trip for crying out loud, what else was Lucas supposed to think? The way she had been smiling about the news that Nathan had managed to find a legitimate business reason for her to come to Vegas, well it would have been more than enough to plant the seeds of doubt in his mind, of course it would have been enough. She took some deep breaths and then turned to look up at Lucas. "I told you, everything's fine between us, why do you ask?" She questioned, hoping that she sounded nonchalant and unaffected by the whole situation.

Lucas was trying to picture it, he was trying to picture Haley and his brother having an affair but it just wouldn't sit in his mind for longer than a second. He was obviously reading far too much into the situation. He knew how much she valued her career, was it so wrong to be genuinely excited about a business trip? He snapped his head back to the current situation and realised that Haley had asked him a question. "Oh nothing." He responded as he turned around and began to walk back to his office, berating himself for having such ridiculous thoughts about his brother and his personal assistant.

Haley watched Lucas walk back to his office and couldn't help the sinking feeling that she felt right in the pit of her stomach. She closed her eyes and laid her head on her desk, her heart beating frantically in her chest. She had no idea what he thought about the whole situation now, did he suspect something? Wasn't the mere fact that she was thinking that he had any suspicious reason enough for the alarm bells to be ringing furiously in her head? She breathed in deeply as she lifted her head of her desk and rested it in her hands. She didn't even know if she should be going to Vegas now. Not when Lucas must have had the fleeting thought that she and Nathan were involved with each other, and not when Tom was being a class A asshole with her either.

~*~

Nathan looked down at his watch for what had to be the thousandth time that evening and saw that it was eight thirty. He was seated in one of the restaurants of the hotel and had just said goodbye to all of the women who had come on this trip with their husbands and boyfriends. He had thought that activity was a little weird as last night the women had stayed with the men but he was too excited to question it, for Haley would be in his arms in just about half an hour. She hadn't called him but he knew that if she had said no that Lucas would have told him and so he found himself literally counting down the seconds until she would arrive.

"So Nathan, are you ready to take this evening to a more enjoyable setting?" Mr Felton asked him from across the table, noticing that he seemed to be a little distracted about something this evening.

"Of course." Nathan responded as he rose from the table at the same time as the other businessmen did.

"Excellent. Shall we then gentleman?" Mr Felton said to the table as he downed the last of his scotch and then led the way out of the restaurant and down the stairs towards his favourite bar.

Nathan followed Mr Felton down the stairs towards the bar. "So how come the women aren't joining us this evening?" He asked as he began the descent down the stairs, walking just behind Mr Felton.

Mr Felton chuckled at Nathan and once he reached the bottom of the stairs he turned around to face him. "Let's just say that tonight's activities are of the more manly variety." He said as he patted Nathan on the chest. "You can thank me in the morning." He winked at him before he led the way into the bar.

Nathan frowned as he stood at the bottom of the stairs, wondering what the hell Mr Felton had meant by the phrase 'manly variety'. However he soon shrugged it off as he looked down at his watch again before entering the bar, following the long line of the ten business men he was currently with. He followed them to a large table to the right of the bar and saw that their table was filled with women dressed as what he could only describe as strippers, with barely any material covering their bodies. He rolled his eyes as he continued to follow the men, pleased that in about twenty minutes Haley would be gracing him with her presence and then he could excuse himself for the evening.

"Gentlemen, enjoy." Mr Felton said as he placed himself right in between two of the women that sat at the table. "Tonight is all on me."

Nathan watched as each of the men sat down at the table and every single woman practically crawled onto their laps. He rolled his eyes and excused himself as he went to the bar to grab himself a beer. He didn't want to be a part of their evening of sordid activity, he was simply going to wait for Haley to arrive and then get the hell out of there. He sat himself on a bar stool and ordered a beer, glancing down at his watch once more before taking a swig of the bottle that had been placed in front of him. Ten minutes, that was all he had to wait. He felt like he hadn't seen her in years, let alone days but he was so damn excited to see her, he didn't care if he was being pathetic. After everything they had been through together he just wanted her in his arms again. One night together after admitting their true feelings for each other hadn't been enough for him.

Half an hour and three beer bottles later, Nathan glanced down at his watch and saw that it was now twenty past nine. Haley should have been here twenty minutes ago. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and saw that he had no messages from her and so he placed it back in his pocket as he ordered another beer, deciding that she was probably stuck in traffic or a long queue at reception or something. He knew that she would be here soon.

One hour and seven beer bottles later, she still hadn't turned up. Nathan pulled out his phone and dialled her number, only to find that her phone was going straight through to voicemail yet again. Where the hell was she? And why the hell was her phone off? Her plane had landed at eight o'clock this evening and it was only a twenty minute ride from the airport to the hotel, so given that two and a half hours had passed, he was more than a little bit anxious as to her whereabouts. He ordered another beer from the bartender and turned around in his stool, hearing the bartender place the new beer bottle down on the bar for him as he looked at the door, wondering if Haley had arrived yet. He couldn't see her at the door to the bar and so he swung back around in his seat, only to find that his beer bottle wasn't where he thought it would be. He frowned as he heard a girly giggle in his right ear and turned to see one of the women from the table sitting in the bar stool opposite him, taking a swig from his beer bottle. Nathan rolled his eyes as the woman placed the beer bottle back down on the bar and moved it towards him. "No, its fine, you take that one." He said as he gestured for the bartender to hand him another bottle.

The girl smiled at him and took another swig of the beer before leaning into him. "Thank you." She whispered in his ear before pulling away as she bit down on her lip and looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes.

Nathan sighed heavily before taking a swig of the new bottle of beer that the bartender had just placed in front of him. "Don't thank me, thank Mr Felton over there. He's the one paying for all this." He said as he gestured behind him with his thumb at the table he had been sitting at. He then proceeded to try to ignore this woman, in the hopes that if he didn't acknowledge her that she would take the hint and leave him alone.

The girl took her hand and started to trail it lightly up and down his arm. "I'd much rather thank you than anyone else on that table. You know the girls have all been dying to know why you ran away from us and decided to sit up here rather than come and play with us." She said as she took a hold of his wrist and stood up. "Come on, why don't you come over?" She asked as she tugged lightly on his arm. "We're all paid for, you know." She added suggestively.

"If it's alright with you, I'd rather just stay up here, besides I'm waiting for someone." He said as he tugged his arm back gently, relieved when she released her grip on his wrist so that he could hug his beer bottle instead of touch her. He didn't want to be rude to this woman and he didn't want to end up in a bad mood because she was frustrating him, not when Haley was due to arrive, he wanted to be happy, he was happy, he was excited.

"I thought you were waiting for someone, but you've been looking at your watch for the past two hours or so, so perhaps the person you're waiting for isn't going to show?" The girl said as she walked in between the small space between Nathan and the barstool, smiling up at him as he turned to look at her. "Come on, what harm is just coming over to sit with us going to do?" She continued as she took one of his hands off the beer bottle he was holding and slipped it into her own hand. "Please?"

Nathan looked down at his hand which was now placed inside hers and rolled his eyes. "Look, I really am happy just sitting up here, thanks." He said as he took another sip of his beer, frowning at the girl's words to him. The thought that Haley wasn't going to turn up hadn't even entered his head; he'd been so excited about her coming that the mere idea of her staying in New York hadn't registered in his brain. She had to be coming, but why was her phone off? Why hadn't she got in contact with him to let him know that she was on her way? And where the hell was she given that her flight had landed over two hours ago? His frown grew as the realisation that she might not be coming to him sunk in and the thought of spending six more nights alone in this hotel filled him with emptiness.

The girl leaned in and placed a kiss on his cheek before moving her mouth up to his ear. "I promise you that you don't know what you're missing." She whispered.

Nathan leaned back from the girl and chuckled at her persistence before shaking his head at her. "All the same, thanks but no thanks." Haley had to be coming; he wasn't going to give up on that thought just yet. She'd be here. He then released his hand from the girl's grip and then ran his hand through his hair before resting it on the back of his neck. "Why don't you head back to the table, I'm sure you'll have much more fun over there instead of sitting up her with me." He said. He could smell her cheap perfume and it instantly reminded him of the time when he was in that bar after he had thought that Haley had got back together with her ex. He'd made a huge mistake that night and he sure as hell wasn't going to repeat that ever again, with or without Haley turning up to Vegas. Moreover, he didn't want this girl hanging off him all night, he only wanted Haley. He wished that this girl would just do as he asked and return to Mr Felton's table as all he wanted was to be left in peace, and he certainly didn't want Haley to catch him with this girl's hands all over him, despite his attempts to get her to stop, he knew that it wouldn't look good to her at all.

Haley had just walked into the bar and almost immediately her eyes were drawn to the noise and commotion that was coming from a table to the right of the bar. She instantly spotted Mr Felton receiving what she could only describe as a lap dance and her eyes immediately darted around the table, frantically searching for Nathan. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realised that he wasn't sitting with the group and she turned her nose up in disgust at what she saw in front of her. She'd happily bet that most, if not all, of those men sitting around the table were either married or had girlfriends. She didn't understand why men behaved like that the minute they went out of town on business trips; it really was such repulsive behaviour. She was just happy in that moment that Nathan didn't appear to be a part of those revolting activities.

However, if Nathan wasn't sat at the table with Mr Felton then she didn't have a clue as to where he could be. She knew that he wasn't in the suite as she had just been up there and so she didn't even know where to begin looking for him in such a big establishment. She decided that she needed to have a drink before she came up with a game plan and so she walked over to the bar and sat down on one of the bar stools. She caught the bartender's attention and ordered herself a vodka and coke and took a sip from it once it was placed in front of her as she turned herself around in the stool, taking her drink with her and looked around the bar. She then heard an incredibly shrill girly giggle come from the left hand side of where she was currently sitting. She turned her head quickly and noticed that one of the sluts was standing facing her with a man sandwiched between them a couple of bar stools down from where she was currently seated. There was no mistaking that she belonged to Mr Felton's clan of women and she quickly moved her eyes up and down what she was, or rather wasn't wearing before turning her head away from her; she really didn't want to be seeing any of what she had to offer. The slut was literally falling over the man that was seated in between them and she shook her head at the activities that were going on around her.

She continued to sip her drink and had just brought the glass up to her mouth again when she glanced to the left and saw the slut lean in and kiss the guy before whispering something in his ear. She rolled her eyes and then watched as the man moved his hand through his hair and then rested it on the back of his neck and she very nearly spat the vodka and coke which was still inside of her mouth all over the man sitting next to her. Only it wasn't just any man, it was Nathan. What the fuck did he think he was playing at?

**AN – Oh dear, so what do we think Haley is going to do now? Freak out? And do we think Lucas is going to catch on for real anytime soon?!**

**And what's that... no smut?! I guess I'll have to make up for that at some point..! Hee hee... don't worry guys... for those of you that like it... I have some plans for these two.**

**Let me know what you thought of the chapter by leaving me a review.**

**As always a sneak peek will be available, let me know if you want it by dropping a review and I'll send it on to you once it has been written.**

**Also, just to let you know that I have started a blog for my stories. So far I have pictures of Nathan and Haley's apartment in NYC up there, as well as a picture of Nathan's hotel room in Vegas. The address is www (dot) ilovenaley (dot) blogspot (dot) com just take out the brackets and replace the 'dots' with a full stop. I'll probably post some more pics up there as and when so check it out! Thanks x**


	19. Chapter 19

**AN – Hey! Thank you all so much for the reviews of the last chapter! The response to this story never ceases to amaze me and you are all so kind with your incredibly encouraging words.**

**To those of you who left unsigned reviews, without an e-mail address so I couldn't respond, just a few words as always, – **dreamer0417 – **I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the chapter, and the whole Tom drama is coming up soon… **ann – **I'm so glad that you continue to enjoy this story and I hope you like the update. **LJane – **Lol I know, when will Nathan learn huh? Well, you'll get to see what Haley does about the little situation he got himself caught in right now; I hope you enjoy the update! **Judy – **Aw, I'm so pleased that you are enjoying this story so much! I'm glad you also liked how Nathan got Haley to come out to Vegas!**

**So the whole Tom drama is coming… not this chapter… but soon. I know he is freaking a lot of you out and most of you seem pretty convinced that he is having an affair with Jade… which I am not confirming nor denying… I'm leaving you all guessing, though for some of you I don't think it's a guess anymore and is more presumed knowledge…but anyway. And when do we think Lucas will piece together the final pieces of his puzzle..?**

**Right, I know the last chapter was smut less (to those of you who said you missed it… I'm sorry!)… And I think I remember saying that I had some making up to do – didn't I, at the end of the last chapter? Well, here it goes…**

**Many thanks as always to Rebecca who is amazing and read through this chapter for me before I posted it. And also to Kristen who is also amazing and read through this chapter for me too!**

**Oh and just one more thing, I've started a new story! It's called Never Say Never, so I hope you'll all go and check it out once you've read this update if you haven't already, I'll mention it again at the bottom...**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Nineteen**

Somehow Haley managed to swallow the drink that she had inside of her mouth instead of spitting it out all over Nathan. She turned around in her seat so that she was facing his back properly and placed her glass down on the bar. She tried to take some deep breaths; inside she was absolutely fuming at what was going on in front of her eyes but she didn't want to go completely ape shit on him right away, not when she had already accused him of jumping to conclusions all the time without knowing all the facts about a situation just a couple of days ago, that would only make her a complete hypocrite. However, she frowned as she watched the slut rake her fake, red, slutty nails down his arm towards his hand which was still gripping his beer bottle and she couldn't help the thoughts that were running through her mind. Why wasn't he shaking her off him? Was he enjoying her attention? Had he done this kind of thing before? Was this the way the conversation with bar slut number one had started? She watched Nathan release his hand from behind his neck and saw that he was shaking his head at the slut and she wondered what the hell was going on. The slut stood up and tugged on his arm but Nathan continued to shake his head at her. She then watched the girl motion back with her head towards the table that Mr Felton and his horde were currently occupying and once again she saw Nathan shake his head at her, and she breathed a huge sigh of relief. He wasn't playing along with her little game, thank God; he was trying to get her to leave him alone.

Her mouth fell open in shock though as she watched the slut shrug her shoulders and then sit right back down on the stool next to him, licking her lips at him as she leaned in and whispered some more in his ear. Couldn't the bitch take a fucking hint? All of a sudden, Haley saw red; how dare this slut think that she could touch her boyfriend like that? She continued to watch in utter disgust as the slut crossed her legs and tried to get Nathan to place his hand on her leg, which thankfully he didn't do. She scowled at what was going on in front of her and knew that she needed to take some action. She looked over at Mr Felton's table and saw that everyone seated over there was more than a little occupied with the activity going on over there and so she gulped down the rest of her vodka and coke before slamming the glass back down on the bar behind her, giving herself some extra Dutch courage.

She raised herself up from the bar stool she was sitting on and walked over to Nathan while giving the slut the evilest glare that she could muster, which was completely wasted on her anyway as the slut seemed to have eyes for her boyfriend and her boyfriend only, which was starting to aggravate Haley more and more with each passing second as she continued to watch the slut's hands wander all over his body. She felt incredibly possessive as she watched the slut rake her nails over his skin and felt something fire up inside of her. She sucked in a deep breath as she neared Nathan and then stood behind him, catching onto the last remnants of their conversation. By the time Haley had finished with him, the slut would more than realise that he was taken; she'd know that he was hers and hers only. She would also make sure that the slut came to realise that Haley James did not share, especially where her boyfriend was concerned.

"Come on, why are you being such a spoilsport?" The girl asked as she battered her eyelashes at Nathan. "Whoever you're waiting for clearly isn't going to show up so why don't you just come over and have a little fun with me and my girls? No one will know, I promise I'm very good at keeping secrets." She giggled.

Nathan rolled his eyes at her once again and tried not to look at her, instead choosing to look down at his beer bottle. She really was persistent and it was starting to annoy him a little. "Look, I'm going to stay up here and I suggest you go back to the table because when the person that I'm waiting for shows up…" He started, only he stopped the minute he felt someone's hand touch his chin and turn his head, and the only thought that was running through his head was the fact that the slut was going to kiss him properly and that he desperately needed to stop it. Before he'd even had a chance to process what the hell was going on, and bring his hands up to push her away, he felt those familiar lips touch his and that spark of electricity that seemed to flow inside of him whenever she touched him fired up as he realised just who was kissing him. She was finally here.

Haley couldn't help the moan that escaped from her mouth as soon as her lips descended on Nathan's. Instinctively, the hand that was resting on his chin moved slowly along his strong jaw line before dipping below his ear and resting behind his neck. She drew him in closer to her, opening her mouth and running her tongue seductively along his lips before feeling his mouth open, granting her the access she so desperately desired. She slipped her tongue inside of his mouth and smiled when she heard him groan as she touched his tongue with hers, feeling his arms wrap around her waist as he twisted in his bar stool and pulled her in between his legs. She trailed her free hand up his arm from where it sat on her hips and as soon as she reached his shoulder, she ran it along the base of his neck and moved her hand into his hair, clenching fistfuls of it as she moved her mouth hungrily over his.

God she was just perfect. He wrapped his arms around her tighter and pulled her in closer to his body. He could already feel his body responding to her, the insatiable desire and longing to claim her as his again and again fuelled him on further as he ran his hands lightly along the edge of the incredibly tight fitting black knee length skirt she had on, towards her back and then he moved his hands down to cup her fantastic ass. He'd already forgotten where he was, as far as he was concerned he and Haley were all alone, and the only thing that he wanted to do was to get her naked and take her as quickly as was possible. She had pulled her mouth away from his and was now leaving a trail of hot, open-mouthed kisses along his jaw line and his skin felt like it was on fire, his breathing deep, erratic and completely out of control.

Haley heard the slut clear her throat and knew that she had managed to do what she had intended. As she pulled her mouth away from Nathan's, she felt his hands squeeze her ass, which was just perfect, as the slut would be able to see everything. She moaned against his skin and then she left a trail of kisses along his jaw towards his ear. She then glanced quickly over at Mr Felton's table, and was pleased to see that everyone seated at that table was more than a little enthralled by the girls currently giving them lap dances, or those that were dancing on top of the table and none of the men's attention seemed to be on her and Nathan. She rolled her eyes at their sordid behaviour and then concentrated once more on Nathan, finding that she had just about made it to his ear. She grabbed onto his earlobe with her teeth and tugged on it gently, hearing Nathan groan as he started to move his hands over her ass again, pushing her even closer to his body. She then let go of his earlobe and pulled away from him. "Upstairs. Five minutes." She commanded in a stern tone as she twisted herself out of his grasp, raised an eyebrow at the slut who was staring at her like she had just been slapped in the face, and then walked out of the bar.

Nathan was left in a complete daze. What the fuck was that? He wasn't complaining, he loved kissing Haley but why the hell had she just kissed him like that and then wandered off, demanding that he be in their room in five minutes? He furrowed his brow as he watched her walk out of the bar, her ass looking as phenomenal as ever in that sexy skirt she had on, before he was interrupted from his reverie by the sound of someone clearing their throat beside him. Feeling incredibly irritated that someone was trying to capture his attention when his girlfriend was looking like nothing but sex, as she walked away from him; he turned around in his stool and found the slut looking at him with a raised eyebrow of her own. And then he remembered. And that sinking feeling you felt in the pit of your stomach when you knew something bad was about to happen washed over his entire body. He was in trouble. Big trouble.

He closed his eyes in pure frustration at the situation he had found himself in and then jumped off his stool, running over to Mr Felton's table. He spotted him, with three girls draped over his body and walked behind him. "I'm going to call it a night. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Nathan said to him once he had caught his attention, trying his best to avoid the girls that were crooking their fingers at him in an invitation to stay. He watched as Mr Felton nodded his head at him before he literally sprinted out of the bar and found the elevators, pressing the button and calling it to the lower ground floor, sure that it was taking far too long to arrive just to annoy him that little bit more.

Once he was on the floor which housed his suite, he stepped out of the elevator and walked slowly along the corridor. He loosened his tie and removed his jacket, slinging it over his shoulder as he tried to sort out what he was going to say to Haley in his head. He could only imagine what it must have looked like to her, especially if she had seen that slut kiss his cheek, he had no idea how long she had been in the bar, had she been watching him or had she just arrived? He ran his other hand through his hair in frustration, wishing that he had just pushed the slut away from him when she had first sat down next to him, instantly regretting the fact that he had even uttered a word to her. God, and after the whole bar slut debacle earlier on in the week… well he wouldn't be surprised if Haley was completely and utterly pissed off with him, ready to end things between them before they'd even really had a chance to begin. But he couldn't let himself think those kinds of thoughts. He just had to get the chance to explain what had happened to her, that was all. He shook his head at himself, feeling a rather familiar feeling of deja vu, sure that these exact same thoughts had been running through his head the last time this had happened. Upon thinking that, he felt like an absolute bastard, why the hell should Haley have to put up with this kind of shit from him anyway? He really needed to sort himself out.

If anything, he was mildly grateful for the fact that he'd had the sense not to sit at the table with the rest of the group, for he couldn't even begin to imagine the scene Haley would have most likely caused if she had found him with a girl sitting in his lap, topless, and rightly so too. God he just prayed he hadn't fucked things up too much.

He shook his head at himself as he continued to walk down the corridor, still not being able to find the right words that would help him explain the situation to Haley. He really hadn't been doing anything; he'd just been minding his own business when the slut had come over to him and started throwing herself at him. But would Haley believe his story? Would she even give him the chance to explain? He sighed heavily as he arrived at the door to his room and rested his forehead on the wood for a second. He had no idea what the hell he would find when he walked into the suite. Would all of Haley's bags still be packed, would she demand to be flown home? He didn't have a fucking clue… but he only hoped that by imagining the worst possible situation, then what he would hopefully find once he opened the door wouldn't be as bad as he had imagined.

He banged his head on the door before reaching into the back pocket of his trousers and pulled out the key card. With another incredibly deep sigh, he placed it in the reader and saw the green light flash at him as he heard the door click, indicating that it was open and that he could enter the room, but he wasn't even sure if he wanted to. However, he knew that he had to face the music sometime, and he just wanted to get this over and done with so that hopefully they could enjoy the rest of the trip without anymore drama getting in their way. As he pushed the door open, he couldn't help but think that he was hoping for far too much.

He walked through the door into the suite and the first thing that he noticed were Haley's bags, which were placed in the corridor by the door, completely untouched presumably from when the bellboy would have brought them up here for her. Not a good sign. He inhaled deeply as he threw his jacket down onto one of the chairs and wandered further into the room, past the flat screen TV to the window. He knew that if she wasn't in the lounge area that she was either in the bedroom or the bathroom, but he was trying to buy himself a little bit more time before he faced her. There was a deathly silence that filled the suite, and it felt like a rather ominous sign of what was about to come. He loosened his tie a little more and rolled the sleeves of his blue shirt up to his elbows as he looked out of the window, seeing the bright neon lights of the strip lighting up the dark sky. He was mentally kicking himself in the balls though, instead of enjoying the view. How could he have managed to so royally fuck things up for the second time in a week? Especially when he had finally managed to come up with a plan which had enabled her to come out here so that they could spend some time together as a normal couple, barely having to hide their relationship status from anyone other than Mr Felton and his clan.

He shook his head at himself as he leaned one of his arms on the glass. He just needed to fix this… he needed to find the right words. But they seemed to be evading him in his desperate hour of need.

Haley had heard him walk into the suite and wondered why he hadn't called out her name. She knew exactly what he would be thinking; he would be thinking that she was pissed off at him for talking to that slut. And she was slightly, but not enough to cause a big scene about it, especially after she had witnessed him telling her no and shaking his head at her, and there was also the fact that he had told her that he had been waiting for someone. She certainly was mildly pissed off at him for letting her kiss his cheek though, which was enough to make her want to have a little fun with him. She looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and screwed the lid to her lip gloss back on as she pressed her lips together and then she placed it back in her makeup bag. She then ran her hands through her hair and straightened out her clothes. Once she was satisfied with her appearance she then walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom. She took a deep breath and wiped the grin off her face as she walked into the lounge area, seeing Nathan standing by the window and she swore under her breath at how sexy he looked. He was standing by the window with one of his hands resting up against the glass, his suit jacket presumably flung somewhere in the room and the sleeves of his blue shirt were rolled up past his elbows. She closed her eyes and willed herself to concentrate instead of getting caught up in how sexy he looked. She wanted to get her revenge on him before she even thought about getting him naked.

Nathan had closed his eyes and opened them to find Haley glaring at him in the reflection of the glass. He groaned internally, her hand was placed on her hip and he could tell that she was angry. He guessed his time was up, and he still hadn't thought of anything to say to her. But he knew that he needed to say something. He turned around and couldn't help the fact that his eyes travelled up and down her body. The skirt had to be new, he'd never seen anything like it before, it literally hugged her every curve and she looked so damn sexy, he just wanted to rip it right off her. Her pale pink silk shirt was tucked into the high waisted skirt, which was unbuttoned one button too far, giving him a fabulous view of her cleavage. But then as his eyes rose to her face, he remembered that she was annoyed with him, and that he had fucked up things between them both yet again.

Haley walked further into the room and leant against the dark wood cabinet which had the TV on top of it. She needed something to hold onto, to help keep her upright because he had turned around now and she could see his strong arm muscles clenching as he ran his hand through his hair. She watched him eye her body up and down and found herself melting under his gaze. Surely it should be illegal for a man to look that damn good in just a shirt and some trousers. She shook her head slightly though, remembering what her plan was as she heard him begin to talk to her.

Fuck. Just fuck. There were no other words that were coming to his brain. He'd fucked up, big time. But as he looked at her, leaning against that cabinet with one hand and the other sat sternly on her hip, he wanted nothing more than to fuck her senseless. However, as he ran his hand through his hair he remembered that he needed to say something other than the word fuck which was currently running through his mind. "Haley…" He began but then words failed him. He sighed heavily and closed his eyes for a brief second, opening them to find her waiting for him to continue with a raised eyebrow. He'd bet that if he lowered his gaze and looked down at her foot, he would find it tapping against the carpet impatiently. "God Haley, I know I fucked up…" He blurted out. _Oh shit. _That was not how he wanted to start the explanation of his behaviour this evening. The words that he had just spoken implied that he had done something wrong, which he had, but only he hadn't right? God why did he have to drink so many beers tonight? Everything was far too confusing for him right now.

Haley looked away from him for a second and then returned her gaze to him, only this time she was glaring much more harshly at him, ready to have her fun. "So is that what you've been up to since you landed here, chatting up bar sluts, again, while I've been at home in New York Nathan?" She asked in a deadly calm voice, acting as if there was nothing wrong just to freak him out that little bit more. Because in reality there wasn't, but he didn't know that, yet.

Nathan visibly winced at her use of the word 'again', knowing that she was referring to the bar slut he had brought back to their apartment earlier in the week. God he could feel himself sweating. He ran another hand through his hair; his heart was beating frantically in his chest. Why the hell was he so nervous about this? He hadn't done anything wrong. "Look Haley, I know what that must have looked like…" He began but Haley interrupted him before he could utter another word.

"Trust me Nathan, you do not want to know what was going through my head when I walked into that bar and saw that revolting slut hanging all over you." Haley returned with a hint of malice in her voice.

"I know Haley but I was trying…" Nathan started but found that he was interrupted once again.

"Trying to what? Push her away from you?" Haley scoffed. "You weren't doing anything of the sort Nathan; in fact, you openly let her run her hands over your body." She shouted at him, before lowering her voice to a disgusted whisper. "You let her kiss you."

_Shit, she had seen the kiss. _This was all just fucking shit now. He furrowed his brow as he looked over at her, took a deep breath and tried to explain. "Haley if I'd have known that Mr Felton had planned that kind of night I wouldn't have even gone to the bar, but I'd told you to meet me there so I had no choice but to wait for you. I tried to call you but your phone was off, so what was I supposed to do?"

"How about tell the slut that you weren't interested instead of allowing her to sit next to you for God knows how long." Haley retorted. "I mean honestly Nathan, did the fact that you had asked me to meet you there make it okay for her to touch you like that, for her to kiss you and whisper shit in your ear?"

"No Haley, of course it doesn't and I know I should have stopped it, I mean, damn I tried but she was so fucking persistent, she wouldn't leave me the fuck alone!" Nathan shouted back at her in pure frustration at himself, at her and of course mostly at the slut. She had to realise that he hadn't wanted that slut anywhere near him; all he had been doing was waiting patiently for her to arrive.

Haley raised her eyebrow at him given that he had just shouted at her. She bit back the giggle that was threatening to escape from her mouth, she knew that she was being unbelievably cruel to him but she was only going to play with him for a bit longer… "I mean why the fuck did you even ask me to come out here? It seemed to me like you were having more than a good enough time without my company, maybe I should just go home." She replied.

Nathan ran yet another hand through his hair. "God Haley, the last thing that I want is for you to go home. All I did earlier today was think constantly about how I was going to be able to get you to come out here, so please don't go. I know how bad it must have looked, but you have to believe me, nothing happened, she was just doing her job, that's all. Mr Felton had paid for these girls and presumably told them to make sure we all had a good time. I told her I wasn't interested but she would not leave me alone…"

Haley couldn't help but giggle at how desperate he sounded and she knew that she needed to give it up right this second. He looked so hopeless and was literally pulling at his hair so hard she'd be surprised if he had any left by the time he had stopped rambling at her.

"And then you turned up, and… why the hell are you laughing?" Nathan asked, confusion lacing his voice. What the fuck? Was she going crazy on him? Wasn't this what crazy people did before they did something bad, like kill people? Oh shit, she wasn't going to kill him for this was she? He hadn't fucking done anything!

By now Haley was laughing wholeheartedly at him. She brought her hand up to her mouth and covered it as she tried to stop but she couldn't. She breathed in deeply and wiped at the tears that were forming in her eyes. "Sorry Nathan, I can't keep it up anymore." She said as she started to control her laughing outburst. "I know you were trying to get her off you."

"What?" Nathan responded, completely and utterly confused as to what the hell was going on right now.

"I watched you with her for a while, and I saw you shake your head at her and tell her that you wanted to be left alone." Haley explained as she took a couple more deep breaths and eventually stilled her laughter.

Nathan furrowed his brow. "So you were just messing around with me?" He asked, wanting to get this straight in his head and also wanting to ensure that she wasn't in fact angry with him at all.

Haley bit down on her lip and then nodded her head.

Nathan breathed a huge sigh of relief and then without another word he walked up to Haley, closing the distance between them and placed a hand on either side of her face, cupping it in the palms of his hands and pulled her towards him. He captured her lips with his and instantly parted his lips once they touched hers, feeling her mirror his actions and he moaned as he slid his tongue into her waiting mouth. He was so fucking relieved that she wasn't pissed off at him and found that he completely lost himself in that kiss. They were okay, he hadn't fucked up. All the worry that had been invading his every thought for the last fifteen minutes faded away and all he could feel was Haley. The scent of her perfume swirled around him, drawing him closer to her, the taste of her tongue as it slid against his caused him to deepen the kiss even more and the sounds falling from her lips and the softness of her body as it pressed against his drove him completely insane. He pulled away from her and shook his head at her. "Haley James you are a bad, bad girl, do you know that?" He whispered sexily as his eyes moved around her face before resting on her deep brown ones.

"You have no idea." Haley responded in a sultry voice as she brought her hands up to his chest, dropped her eyes and watched as her fingers ran slowly up and down the soft material of his expensive shirt, feeling the hard muscles of his chest and abs flex underneath her fingertips. She brought her eyes back up to meet his slowly, watching him look at her with nothing but love and desire pouring from him as she felt his chest rise and fall with the increased force of his breathing underneath her hands. She dropped her gaze to his chest again and moved one of her hands up and down the soft silk of his tie a few times, licking her lips as she heard Nathan groan. She then gripped his loosened tie in her hands and wrapped it once around her fist, raising an eyebrow as she glanced up at him from underneath her eyelashes upon hearing another small moan escape from his mouth. She then twisted the tie around her fist once more, and then tugged, pulling him forward slightly as she began to lead the way into the bedroom.

"God, Haley." Nathan chocked out as he willing allowed her to take him into the bedroom by his tie. He was sure that he would follow her anywhere, especially when she was dressed so seductively, he couldn't move his eyes away from her ass even if he had wanted to, loving the way that it swayed as she walked. He wanted to reach out and touch it, but it seemed that tonight was her show, and he certainly didn't mind being a willing participant in whatever she had planned for them both tonight.

Haley led him further into the bedroom and then turned around to face Nathan once she was far enough inside. She pulled slightly on the tie and lightly touched his lips in a soft and gentle kiss. She felt Nathan's hand circle her waist, trying to bring her closer into him as his tongue ran over her bottom lip and she pulled away from him, before pushing back on his chest and letting go of his tie as he flopped onto the edge of the bed. She smiled sexily at him and she watched him reach for her, but she shook her head at him.

Nathan scowled at her slightly as she shook her head at him, but reminded himself that he had made a silent promise to himself to play along with her show tonight. He'd get his own back on her tomorrow. He watched her with pondering eyes, wondering what she had planned to do next. Her eyes were dancing with mischief as he retreated his hands back to the bed and ran them over the plush covers of the bed that he'd be sharing with her tonight, thank God. He couldn't wait to hold her in his arms, to watch her sleep again. He shook his head of thoughts about later and concentrated on what was going on right now. He watched, completely mesmerised, as her hands reached up to the buttons on the front of her shirt and she started to unfasten them, incredibly slowly. His eyes followed her every move, groaning as each button that was released exposed another inch of her beautifully soft skin. His eyes roamed the soft swell of her breasts which were currently partially covered in a black lacy bra, which he longed to remove from her so that he could see her fabulous breasts fully. Eventually, all the buttons had been released and the silk of the shirt hung loosely from her shoulders. He longed to reach out and push it off her shoulders, but as he lifted his gaze from her stomach to her eyes, he knew that she wanted to do this her way. He would have to be patient and wait. He then dropped his gaze just in time to see her pull the material off her body, and his eyes followed as the soft silk fell silently until it was nothing but a puddle on the floor. He raked his gaze up her legs, following each of her sensuous curves. "Do you have any idea how sexy you are Haley?" He muttered as his eyes rested on her face. "I want you so much." He said simply. "More than I've ever wanted anything."

Haley felt her heart rate pick up as she listened to his words. She wanted him too, more than she'd ever wanted anything. She couldn't ever imagine being with anyone but him. She was so desperate for him, but she knew the anticipation and build up would only make the end result that much more rewarding, and so she managed to stop herself from just jumping on him. Instead, she dragged her fingers up her stomach and moved to the front clasp of her bra, unclipping it and then slipping it off her body, throwing it down on top of her shirt which was currently on the floor.

"You're so beautiful, Haley." Nathan muttered as his gazed roamed over her fabulous breasts, watching as her nipples hardened slightly. He desperately wanted to taste her but he reminded himself that he was going to wait. He was vaguely aware that her hands had moved to the zipper on the side of her skirt but he was too preoccupied with staring at her fantastic breasts. The sound of zipper moving slowly down caught his attention as he lifted his gaze to her eyes and he found himself locked in her evocative stare. She really was so damn sexy. He loved watching her undress for him like this, he loved the confidence she had around him, how sexy and uninhibited she was with him, it only served for him to love her that little bit more than he already did. Before she slid the material of the skirt down, she stepped out of her heels, and then wiggled her hips, before stopping herself. Nathan furrowed his brow in confusion, wasn't she going to take it off?

Haley moved her hands from her skirt; the thing was so damn tight that even with the zipper undone it would stay plastered to her body anyway. "Stand up." She commanded. She watched as Nathan stood up from where he had been sitting on the bed and she walked over to him. She stopped in front of him and took the tie that she had used earlier and slipped it over his head, before throwing it down onto the floor and she then ran her hands up his chest, moaning at the feel of his fantastic muscles under her hands. She reached the top button of his shirt and popped it open, before following suit with all the others. Her mouth then found his skin as she peeled the shirt off his shoulders and tugged it off his arms, before allowing it to drop the floor. She kissed her way along his chest muscles, before running her tongue seductively around one of his nipples, hearing him moan in appreciation. Her hands had moved down his torso and were now unbuckling his belt as quickly as she could. She then unfastened the button which was holding his trousers up, before lowering the zipper and she furiously tugged them down his body until his trousers were gathered at his ankles. She then stepped away from him and watched as he moved his hands to the waistband of his boxers. He looked up at her as if asking for her permission and she nodded her head and watched as he slid the boxers down his body, revealing his magnificent, rock hard cock and she moaned softly. He kicked his shoes and socks off and then pulled his trousers and boxers off his body too, leaving them in a heap on the floor at the side of his body. He then straightened up, and Haley couldn't help but gasp at how he looked. He was naked and incredibly hard and as she lifted her gaze to his eyes, she sighed happily. God, she loved this man so much.

The tables had turned and now Nathan found himself naked, but she still had her skirt and panties on. He wanted her naked, he longed to touch her. He would have to remove all her remaining clothes himself if she didn't take it all off right this second. Just as he was about to reach out and offer a more than willing helping hand, she brought her hands into the top of the skirt and began to wiggle herself out of it. She pulled it down her body slowly, and he gasped as he realised that she wasn't wearing any panties. And not only was she not wearing any panties, she was also waxed, completely. He stood in stunned silence as the skirt was eventually removed from her body but he didn't even hear it hit the floor, he was far too preoccupied with staring at her beautiful body, now fully exposed to him. Eventually, he realised that he was being incredibly rude, just staring at her and saying absolutely nothing. "Fuck Hales." He breathed out as she stood up straight again. She had left him in a complete trance; his voice was so soft and reverent, he wondered if she had even heard what he had said.

"I thought I'd surprise you." Haley said sexily, incredibly pleased with the reaction she had managed to entice out of Nathan. He was looking at her as if she was a complete Goddess, and she certainly wouldn't mind him showing all of his adoration and appreciation for her, not at all.

There were far too many questions forming in Nathan's head. When had she got waxed? Had she travelled all the way from New York without any panties on, or had she taken them off when she had got here? But he couldn't even begin to comprehend the words that were needed to vocalise any of that. Not when she was standing in front of him completely naked and completely bare. His cock was itching to be inside of her, even to just feel her touch, he needed something from her. Still in his trance-like state, he realised that he was practically drooling over her. So he said the first thing that came to his mind. "Beautiful." He whispered as his eyes roamed all over her sensational body.

"So are you." Haley returned as her eyes wandered over the chiselled planes of his chest, following every dip of his many muscles. She wanted to touch him, she wanted to run her fingers along every single line of his body, she needed him closer to her, he was far too far away from her right now.

Nathan needed to touch her, and he needed to do it now. She was too beautiful for his hands to not be somewhere on her body. "Come here, baby." He whispered as he held his hand out to her. He watched as Haley breathed in deeply before walking towards him, closing the distance, and he found himself doing the same, feeling drawn to her by some sort of invisible magnetic force that was pulling them together. As they stood in front of each other, he softly gripped onto her face with his hands and he closed his eyes as he rested his forehead against hers. "You know that there is no one else for me, don't you Haley?" He asked her and felt her nod her head which was still placed in between his hands. "Good. Because I don't ever want you to doubt how much I love you, how much you mean to me." He whispered as he leaned in and placed his lips against hers softly.

The mood of the room had changed significantly and all Haley felt was this feeling of love and need for Nathan whirl around her. She lifted herself up onto her toes and pressed herself closer to him, sighing into his mouth as she felt the warmth of his body against her bare skin. She felt his tongue trace along her lower lip before slipping into her mouth, the familiar taste of him causing her to moan as she slid her hands up the sides of his toned body. She pulled away from him and looked up at him in wonder, never believing that she could feel this strongly about someone, never believing that love could feel this overpowering. She smiled at him and watched as he smiled back at her, his thumb softly caressing her cheek. "It's never felt like this before Nathan." She whispered as she reached up and took one of his hands from her face and placed it over her wildly beating heart. She waited a second, letting him feel how frantically it was beating. "Only you can do that to me."

Nathan shook his head at how perfect she was and at how lucky he was to have her all to himself. She caused this unknown current of emotions to run through him, something that he could only put down to as being totally and completely in love with someone. He moved his hand that was still placed on the side of her face down to her chin and lifted her head so that he could lean down and kiss her again, before moving his hand into her hair. His hand twisted into her hair, pulling her towards him, needing her closer, while the other moved from her heart and ghosted down her side to the underside of her breast and he felt her shiver underneath his fingertips. He took her breast in his palm as his thumb moved in small circles around and over her hardened nipple. He pulled his mouth away from her and kissed the corner of her mouth. "So perfect," he whispered as he increased the pressure of his touch, hearing her moan softly at his increased efforts.

Haley moved her mouth along his jaw and moved slowly down his neck, smiling as she heard him groan in appreciation, feeling the vibration against her lips as she continued to kiss and taste his skin, moving slowly along his neck, using her tongue to drag her mouth over his rough skin, loving the taste, the feel of him.

Nathan wrapped his hand further in her hair and gave it a gentle tug, bringing her mouth back up to his and kissed her as deeply as he could manage. He felt her fingers run along his shoulders and chest, down his abs until eventually, they wrapped around his hardened cock. He pushed into her hands as she gripped onto him, unable to hold back, groaning deeply at the sensations she was causing to build inside of him.

"I love how good you feel in my hands." Haley sighed softly against his lips, as she loosened her grip on his cock and started to run her fingers up and down his length. She felt Nathan rest his forehead against her shoulder, as he let out a long breath, placing a single kiss on the top of her skin as his whole body trembled against her. She then took a hold of his cock and squeezed him gently and he moaned again, lifting his head up from its position on her skin to capture her mouth with his, kissing her deeply before taking her bottom lip in between his and sucking on it lightly.

Nathan released her lip and then started to move his mouth over her soft skin, working his way down to her neck. As he ran his teeth lightly over her skin, nipping and biting it every so often, he felt her fingers of her other hand twist into his hair a little roughly, causing him to groan against her neck. "Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?" He mumbled against her skin as he found her pulse point and ran his tongue around it before closing his mouth over it.

Gripping his hair, and pulling his mouth away from her skin, Haley lowered his ear to her mouth. "I have a pretty good idea." She whispered as she increased her grip on his cock suggestively and moved her hand up and down his shaft, smiling as she felt him rock into her palm. "But you know, as good as you feel in my hand, when you're inside of me you feel even better." She murmured against his neck, smiling as Nathan's deep groan filled the otherwise silent room.

"I need you, Haley, right now. I can't wait any longer." Nathan whispered breathlessly, pleading with her to end this and let him have what he wanted. The longing and yearning he felt for her couldn't be denied any longer than it already had been.

"Then we won't." Haley responded as she pushed him back onto the bed. His hands never left her body as he lay down on the bed, pulling her on top of him. She lay over him, feeling his mouth kiss every single inch of the skin that he could reach, his mouth moving over her cheeks and her neck frantically as his hands wandered up and down her back, pushing her body into his. She pulled away from him and sat up, moving her legs so that she was now straddling his hips. She looked deeply into his eyes as ran her hand seductively down the centre of his chest, past his stomach and then settled on his cock. She lifted her body up off him and positioned him against her before she slowly sunk back down onto him. She moaned softly as she felt him fill her body. "God, Nathan." Haley whispered as she closed her eyes, allowing herself a moment to get used to the familiar feeling of him being inside of her, a feeling that she craved constantly.

"Do you know how amazing it feels, to be inside of you like this?" Nathan asked as he trailed his finger from her nipple, running it softly down between her breasts and ran it around her belly button in a circle. "Does it feel the same way for you?" He asked as he looked deeply into her eyes. "It's like we're meant to be together." He continued as his fingers slipped down a little further and ran softly over her clit, earning a sharp gasp from Haley before he trailed his hand back up her stomach and then settled both of his hands on her hips. He lowered his gaze from her eyes, lifting his head up slightly from the pillows as he felt her lift her body and he moaned loudly as he watched himself become exposed before slipping back inside of her, and he was sure there wasn't any sight more incredible than that in the whole fucking world. "Shit Hales, I need you to do that again." He breathed out, shocked by how ragged and rough his voice sounded to his own ears as he lifted her hips slightly, encouraging her to continue. He watched, completely enthralled as she moved her body up, exposing his cock again. "Fuck." He moaned, before his head fell back against the pillows. "That is quite honestly the most perfect thing I've ever seen in my whole fucking life, seeing you take my cock inside of you like that."

Haley lifted her hips again, feeling Nathan dig his hands into her hips as she moved again and she heard him moan loudly once more. She smiled as she lowered herself back down onto him, before lifting herself up again. "You feel so good Nathan, filling me like this." Haley moaned as she slammed her body back down on top of him.

God if he kept watching her do that and if she kept saying things like that, well then this was not going to last much longer, not at all. "I don't know if I can… fuck!" He groaned as she moved up and down on his cock again. "Haley. You can't say those kind of things to me right now baby." He said tightly as he shut his eyes, hoping that if he couldn't see her, he could perhaps control himself a bit more.

"What things?" Haley asked innocently as she lifted herself up and lowered herself back down on him again. "Like how good it feels when I clench my muscles around your rock hard cock like this?" She continued as she tightened her inner muscles around him and she moved up and down his length again. "How big you feel inside of me? How I fantasise about your cock, crave it almost?"

Nathan groaned as he felt her muscles clench around his cock and he kept his eyes squeezed shut, knowing that if he opened them he wouldn't last a second longer. He had no idea what the hell she was doing to him, what she was saying but he knew that he liked it. He reached up over his head and gripped onto the headboard of the bed, needing to grip onto something much tighter than he would be able to hold onto Haley's hips, he didn't want to bruise her.

Haley couldn't help the moan that escaped from her mouth as she looked down and saw the flexed muscles in his arms and chest as he reached for the headboard; he really was so fucking perfect. She leaned down towards him and kissed his chest, before closing her eyes as she raised herself up again and began to move up and down his shaft again slowly. She was completely lost in the way that her body seemed to fit his, he was right; it really was like they were meant to be together. She opened her eyes again and looked down at his face, his jaw was clenched tight and his eyes were squeezed shut, she could hear him panting as one of his hands that still gripped her around the hip increased the pressure slightly, lifting her off him again. She could feel him inside of her, but she wanted to feel more of him, she wanted him deeper, and so she then lifted her leg over his chest as she swivelled around on his cock so that she was now facing his feet.

Holy fuck, what in God's name was she doing? He felt her moving and he didn't know what the hell was going on. He removed his hand from the headboard above him and with his eyes still firmly shut he reached out and settled his other hand on her hip, trying to still her movements but something felt different. "Jesus Hales, what the hell are you doing?" He asked as he opened up his eyes and lifted his head up from the pillows, feeling her move up and down his cock again, only this time he felt himself hitting spots he'd never hit before. Jesus Christ, she'd turned herself around. He moved his right hand from its position on her hip and trailed in up her spine, caressing her soft, sensual skin, feeling her shudder underneath his fingertips. She continued to move up and down, his left hand was still on her hip, guiding her. She had the sexiest back ever and he loved every single inch of her. His fingers eventually halted at the top of her spine and he moved his hand to her shoulder, needing to feel more of her.

Haley moaned each time she moved up and down his fantastic cock. He was hitting places he'd never hit before and her head fell forward as she found herself completely lost in the sensations running through her body that the new angle had created. "God Nathan, you feel so damn good." She moaned out breathlessly as she continued to move herself over him in a slow and deliberate pace. She felt his hand trail along her neck to her shoulder and then gasped when she felt his hands grip onto both her hip and her shoulder as he pulled her down onto him forcefully, his hips rising up as she felt him enter her once again. He repeated the action again and again, his hips rising up each time he pulled her down on top of his cock and each moment felt more frantic as she rapidly felt herself losing control. She looked to her left and saw the neon lights twinkling along the strip outside the window, their bright lights blurring together, creating nothing more than multicoloured strokes of light across the black night that surrounded the city.

Nathan continued to pull her down on top of him forcefully, his movements frenzied and uncontrolled. He felt Haley lean forward, placing the palms of her hands on top of his thighs, presumably to support herself and he took that as an invitation to increase the force and speed of his actions, feeling completely unrestrained. The emotional connection he felt towards this woman was completely overpowering and the way she felt around him was completely overwhelming, causing this wave of lust and love to run through his veins, and all of sudden the desire he felt, the need to be closer to her took over completely. In a rush of movements, he lifted himself up into a seating position and wrapped his arms around her waist as he jumped further back in the bed, his back now resting against the headboard as he leaned his head on her shoulder, his hands finding her hips again as he lifted her off him again before slamming her back down onto his cock. "Fuck, baby." He groaned as he breathed in and out hurriedly, practically gasping for breath. "God you feel so fucking good."

"I know; so do you." Haley moaned back at him. She closed her eyes, feeling one of his hands leave her hip, dancing across her stomach as she lifted herself up again. His mouth had found her neck, and he left a soft open-mouthed kiss on her skin before breathing over her neck, his warm breath heating up her sweaty skin, damp from the intensity of their lovemaking. She leaned back against his clammy chest, and rested her neck to the side, giving him all the access he needed as she felt his tongue reach out, tasting her skin, his teeth nipping and dragging along her neck before he placed three kisses along her shoulder, as she continued to move herself up and down his shaft. She then leaned forward again, placing her hands back on his thighs for extra leverage as she arched her back and felt his hands tighten on her hips, lifting her again, and she closed her eyes, revelling in the feelings coursing through her body, finding herself shaking with the need to just let go, but wanting to hold on to this for as long as was possible.

Nathan moved his right hand from her hip, ghosting it up her side before stroking the underside of her breast, feeling her shiver at his touch. He then ran it back down her stomach and placed it back on her hip, griping it tightly, needing to take control of her actions. He continued to kiss her shoulder and her neck lightly, as he guided her movements, his hips rising to meet her each time he pulled her down on top of him. He shuddered and trembled, desperately trying to hang on, not wanting this to end. "I love you, Haley." He whispered into her skin as he kissed his way along her shoulder and moved to the back of her neck. "I love you so much."

"Oh God, Nathan." Haley moaned softly as she heard his sweet whispers and felt his mouth continue to dance across her skin. She gripped onto his thighs as tightly as she could, his hands increasing their pressure on her hips as a visible shudder ran through her body, feeling him continue to guide his body into hers, his lips ghosting over the top of her back. She could feel his movements become more frantic, much less controlled and her body responded, beginning to tighten as she moved on top of him. A wave of pleasure unlike anything she'd ever felt overtook her body as his name fell from his lips repeatedly. Her head was hung forward as her hands continued to grip onto his thighs forcefully, her body shuddering with the force of her orgasm and with one more deep thrust from Nathan, and an incredibly loud groan, she felt his body tense and still as he came inside of her. He whispered her name and gasped deeply as she felt his grip on her hips loosen and he leant back on the headboard, and Haley leaned back against him, her breathing still incredibly erratic.

Nathan sat with his back against the headboard, Haley's small body still on top of him, both of them basking in the afterglow of such intense lovemaking in complete silence as he waited for their breathing to calm and their heart rates to slow down to a more normal pace. He then lifted her off him and sunk down into the bed, his arm wrapping around her shoulder as he pulled her into his body, smiling as Haley rested her head in the crook of his neck. He looked down at her and brushed the damp hair away from her forehead and then tilted her chin so that she was looking up at him and he leaned down to place a gentle kiss on her lips.

Haley closed her eyes as she felt his lips press against hers, the kiss ending much too soon for her liking. She opened her eyes and found his blue eyes staring back at her, before they flittered all over her face. The feelings she felt for him ran so deeply inside of her, he was tangled to her so tightly, she couldn't ever imagine a time when she would be able to let him go, and she didn't ever want to either. She wanted to tell him how she felt; she wanted him to know how devoted she was to him. "I love you." She said quietly, simply. Was there another phrase, some words of some sort that would better showcase her emotions for him? Probably. But she was once again lost in his gaze and she knew that she wouldn't be able to find the words even if she tried. Not when he was looking at her like that.

Nathan's eyes reconnected with Haley's and he smiled as he continued to move his fingers through her hair. He closed his eyes again briefly, unable to recall a time where he felt this happy; it seemed to be something that she brought out in him whenever he was around her. "I love you too, Haley. You make me so happy."

"You do the same to me too." Haley smiled back at him. She felt his arms pull her into his body again and she pressed herself up against him, sighing in complete contentment. She felt his hand softly caress the top of her arm as she closed her eyes and ran her hand up and down his chest, feeling him flinch every so often when she caught a sensitive spot and she felt his lips press to the top of her head, feeling him rest his head against hers as he breathed in deeply. She thought back over the past couple of days, revelling in how far they had come in their relationship, only to have that happiness shaded by the questions Lucas had been asking of her earlier. She frowned, feeling the need to voice her concerns to Nathan, wanting to get his take on the situation. She stilled her hand on his chest and leant up on her elbow, watching as Nathan shifted so that he could look at her.

Nathan could see the worry flickering its way across her face and he knew that there was something troubling her. "What's wrong baby?" He asked as he brought his hand up and placed her hair securely behind her ear.

"I think Lucas suspects that something is going on between us." Haley revealed quietly, watching Nathan's face carefully to see if he knew that something was up with him too, wondering if he had considered that scenario as well. Did he suspect that Lucas knew something too?

"What makes you say that?" Nathan asked, a little bit surprised that she had managed to come to that conclusion. They had been so careful; there was no way that Lucas could know that anything was going on between them. He'd known that he had been a little sloppy when he called him to ask about Haley coming out here but he had managed to cover it, hadn't he?

Haley looked down at the bed before lifting her gaze to meet his again. "It's just, he's been asking me all these questions, about us, and the living situation and I don't know, he just seems to be asking a few too many personal questions, that's all." Haley responded. "I also don't think it helped that I lit up like a light bulb when he approached me about coming to Vegas." She admitted sheepishly.

Nathan chuckled at her as he continued to stroke her hair. "I don't think that I was very subtle when I was on the phone, asking him to allow you to come out here either." He replied, shaking his head at his behaviour. "But believe me, if Lucas really did suspect something, he would have called me on it by now."

Haley smiled up at him, finding herself torn once again. She loved Nathan, so much, but with Tom acting the way that he was, she knew that they couldn't reveal themselves to anyone at the moment; surely it would only make the whole situation with him even worse that it already was. She thought she should tell Nathan about it, but every time she tried to approach the subject of Tom with him, he grew guarded and dismissed it as something that he didn't want to know anything about. She bit down on her lip, considering it for a further moment, before deciding that she just wanted to enjoy her time here with Nathan, she didn't want to bring up something that would most likely cause an argument. Things were too perfect between them right now. "We'll just have to be a bit more careful when we're back in New York." She said.

"Okay." Nathan agreed, before pulling her back onto him, feeling her head rest on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her and held her to him. "But while we're here, the only people we need to be hiding from are Mr Felton and his associates, and Vegas is a big place. I'm sure we can lose them pretty easily." He said into her hair as he placed a kiss on the top of her head. He could tell that Haley was still worrying about something, and he rubbed his hands up and down her back, hoping that he could ease her anguish somewhat. "Don't worry baby, it will all sort itself out."

Haley relaxed and pushed all thoughts of Tom, Lucas and New York out of her head. There was no point in worrying about any of that when she was here, in Vegas, lying in the arms of the man that she loved endlessly. "I know." She sighed softly. Her head was resting on his heart, and the steady beat of it, together with the steady rhythm of his breathing, lulled her to sleep. She was completely exhausted from all the travelling she had done and she felt it all begin to take its toll as her eyelids grew heavy. She moved up his body slightly and laid her head in the crook of his neck and placing a soft kiss against his skin before she began to fall asleep, wrapped up securely in his arms, wondering how much longer they would be able to keep the real world out of their little bubble, sure that it was going to burst soon, she could feel it, and it was more than a little unsettling.

~*~

The following morning, Lucas sat at his desk, cursing to himself. It was ridiculously early in the morning, New York time, but he had a breakfast meeting with Mr Frost and Tom in half an hour and he couldn't find the research that Haley had done for him on the development he was going to be discussing with them. He desperately needed to get his hands on it before this meeting, as he needed some time to have a quick scan through it before he had to leave, which annoyingly was looking less and less likely as time moved on, and he still couldn't find the damn thing.

He sighed to himself in frustration, he had looked everywhere for the damn file, in all the usual folders that Haley regularly used to saved his documents in on the computer, but it just wasn't there. He knew that she had done it, he certainly didn't doubt that, and it wasn't her fault that he couldn't find it, he was probably being blind or something, in fact, he wouldn't be surprised if it was right in front of him but he couldn't see it for shit and he really did need the research. He grimaced as he looked down at the clock in the corner of the screen and mentally did the maths. It was far too early, wasn't it?

It probably was, but he really did need the research, and he was sure that Haley would understand. He pulled out his mobile phone from his pocked and dialled Haley's number, praying that she would pick up; only the call went straight through to voicemail without even ringing, letting him know that her mobile was switched off. He sighed as he hung up and spent another five minutes unsuccessfully trying to find the damn document that was nowhere to be seen.

Eventually, he gave up and double clicked on the internet icon and searched for the telephone number of the hotel, finding it and then picking up his phone and dialling the number. The hotel staff picked up almost immediately.

"Hi, I was wondering if you could connect me to the room of a Miss Haley James?" Lucas asked politely.

"Certainly, one moment please." Lucas heard the member of staff reply before he then heard the call being put through to her room. He prayed that she wouldn't kill him for waking her up this early.

~*~

Nathan jolted awake in bed as he heard the shrill ringing of the telephone from the bedside table. He moaned as he released his grip on Haley, lifting her up slightly so that he could extract his hand from underneath her body. He lowered his head, unable to resist placing a kiss on her shoulder before he rolled over, hearing Haley stir in bed as he did so.

"Make it stop." Haley moaned, squinting as she rolled herself over and buried her head underneath the pillow, wondering who in their right mind was calling at this ungodly hour. It was still dark outside for crying out loud.

"I'm trying." Nathan muttered as he reached over and picked the phone up off the hook and placed it to his ear. "Hello?" He said sleepily as he yawned down the phone and tried to move the phone to the edge of the table so that he could settle back down in bed. Once he had, he reached over for Haley and pulled her into him, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head.

Lucas frowned as he heard the male voice down the phone, and instantly grew completely embarrassed, thinking that he had been put through to the wrong room. He was about to apologise for waking this person up so early when he heard the voice speak again.

Nathan shook his head, wondering what the hell was going on, why the hell wasn't this person speaking? Didn't they realise that it was still the middle of the damn night? He sighed before speaking again, in a slightly more irritated tone. "Hello?"

"Nathan?" Lucas responded in complete and utter shock, instantly recognising the agitated voice as his brother's. He pulled the phone away from his ear for a second; looking at it in confusion, before gasping in realisation at what had just happened, and what the fact that his brother had just picked up the phone in Haley's room meant. He took a deep breath and then placed the phone back to his ear, trying to calm himself down. "Would you mind telling me what the hell are you doing in Haley's room?"

**AN – Uh oh. Do we think that is Nathan going to be able to worm his way out of this one then or had Lucas finally connected the dots?! Let me know what you thought of the chapter by leaving me a review.**

**A sneak peek is available to those of you that want it, just let me know if you do in a review and I shall send it over once it has been written.**

**If you want to see a picture of the hotel room Nathan and Haley are staying in, then it's on my blog (www (dot) ilovenaley (dot) blogspot (dot) com) under the Outtake post, I might post a picture teaser for the next chapter as well at some point.**

**A quick update on the High Heels and Blushes sequel for you those of you waiting for it, I have about 3,000 words right now, and no title but I'm continuing to work on it here and there, not sure how much longer it's going to be before posting but it is still being worked on!**

**AND – Don't forget to check out my new story – Never Say Never -just follow the link to my profile and you'll find the story listed there! I'm going to try and get the previews out to those of you that asked for one for NSN early this week.**


	20. Chapter 20

**AN - Oh my gosh, no your eyes are deceiving you; this really is an update of Think About Me! I know I've taken nearly two months to get this chapter up, but I was having trouble deciding what I wanted to happen in this chapter, which caused the delay, so I am very sorry for that!**

**Thank you all so much for all the lovely reviews you all left for the last chapter, they really did inspire me to get cracking on this update much sooner than I would have. As always, just a couple of words to those of you without accounts that left a review so I couldn't respond personally. **Ann – **Sorry I took so long to update, hope you like the chapter! **T – **Again, apologies for how long this chapter took to get ready but I hope you like it. **IOU – **Lol, glad you liked the smut in the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this chapter! **Cher – **I hope you got the email with the preview, I'm so pleased you are enjoying my writing, hope you enjoy the update! **Kelly – **So pleased you enjoyed the last chapter, hope you like this one!**

**Many, many thanks to Rebecca for giving this a read through for me before I posted it, and also to Kristen who read through it for me too, you girls are amazing.**

**Hope you all enjoy…**

**Chapter Twenty**

As soon as Nathan heard the voice speak to him down the phone he knew instantly that it was Lucas. But not only was it Lucas, it was Lucas asking him what he was doing in Haley's room, in the middle of the night, at the hotel they were staying at in Vegas. Upon having all of this actually register in his brain, he immediately sat up in the bed and shoved Haley out of his arms to the other side of the bed, wanting to get her away from him. His eyes grew wide and he saw Haley scowl at him as if to ask what his problem was and he then realised that his brother couldn't actually see them together, so the fact that he had pushed her away was in fact pretty pointless. He would have apologised to her but his head was currently spinning at a thousand miles per hour and he had no idea what the hell he was going to say to Lucas, which seemed like the most important thing for him to be thinking about right now, instead of apologising to Haley. How the hell was he going to get them both out of this mess?

Haley scowled at Nathan, finding that she was now completely awake at what had to be silly o'clock in the morning, given how dark it still was outside. What the hell was he doing, practically throwing her to the other side of the bed? She watched as he sat up in bed and ran a shaky hand through his hair and she wondered who was on the phone, what on earth had got him this worked up in what had to be a couple of seconds, he hadn't even had a proper conversation with whoever was on the phone yet.

Lucas sighed down the phone and quickly found himself getting incredibly agitated. Why the hell wasn't Nathan answering him? He was sure that a couple of minutes had passed since he had asked his brother to explain what was going on and he was getting more and more impatient with each ticking sound that was coming from the clock that was hanging in his office. He wasn't really sure that he wanted to know why Nathan was in Haley's room; the thoughts that were currently running through his head were things that he really didn't want to be thinking about. Haley was engaged to one of Nathan's top employees, there was no way that they could be having an affair, and for God's sake Nathan surely had to know that she wasn't his to have if they were, what the hell did he think he was playing at? He found himself getting quite distressed, not wanting to believe that anything like that was going on because the implications of their actions didn't just affect themselves, they also affected other people, innocent people and it just wasn't right at all for either of them to be doing that. But Haley wasn't like that, was she, his mind countered almost immediately? There had to be an innocent explanation for all of this, there just had to be. Maybe there was a mix up with the rooms? Maybe it was actually the hotel staff's fault and Haley was actually tucked up in a bed in another room, and wasn't hauled up with Nathan. But how the hell would the hotel staff muck it up? Nathan had been at the hotel for longer than Haley had, so that just couldn't be the case; it didn't actually make any sense whatsoever. _Shit._

_There was a mix up with the rooms_. Nathan thought to himself, breathing a sigh of relief that he had managed to come up with such an excuse when his mind was as completely jumbled as it was right now. _But there wouldn't be a damn mix up because Haley had only arrived yesterday, and you've been here longer_, his brain argued back at him. He closed his eyes and shook his head, wanting to free his mind of every single thought that was currently occupying it so that he could at least try and think clearly, maybe then he'd actually be able to come up with a believable story. But that was proving absolutely impossible at the moment.

Lucas had waited long enough, he had to know what was going on, and he was sure that his head was going to burst if he didn't get an explanation to all of this within the next five seconds. "Well Nathan? What the hell are you doing in what the hotel seems to think is Haley's room?" He asked, the tone of his voice indicating just how ready he was to beat the crap out of his brother if his current line of thinking actually turned out to be correct. He prayed to God that he was wrong though, he had to be wrong.

Nathan knew that his time was up. He had to say something, but he didn't know what the hell he could say. He knew that Lucas was pissed off at him, and he was pissed off at himself because Haley didn't want anyone to know about them yet and it seemed that his brother was about to find out. He couldn't think of a way to salvage this at all. He sighed heavily in defeat. "I have no idea Lucas." He responded desolately.

Haley's head instantly rose from where she had been watching her fingers trace the pattern in the bed linen, and she looked over at Nathan, incredibly puzzled. He had just said Lucas, she was sure of it… why the hell was Lucas calling their hotel room at this hour? She looked over at the clock and mentally did the maths, working out the time difference and she realised from the look of pure dread on Nathan's face that he had called for her and not for Nathan. Her heart sank in her chest upon realising this… Lucas had just found out about them. Shit. She didn't have a clue what she was going to do now, a million and one questions suddenly clouding her brain, weighing her down with their incredible force. Her breathing had increased so significantly, she was so sure she was going to pass out.

Nathan looked over at Haley and could see the look of absolute panic that was currently spread right across her beautiful face, and he absolutely hated what he saw. He frowned as he desperately tried to regain a sense of calm so that he could think this through rationally, but all he could hear was Haley gasping for breath, and the worry he held for her in that moment clouded any other thought he tried to get into his head.

Lucas by now felt like he had completely lost the plot. What the hell did Nathan mean when he said 'I don't know'? That hardly answered his question at all and neither did his words do absolutely anything to kill the completely ridiculous, but not so ridiculous, thoughts that were currently running through his head. He tried desperately to quiet the thoughts that were screaming in his head, well aware that what he was currently thinking was an accusation so huge he couldn't very well just throw it out there, not when he wasn't entirely sure of what was going on in the first place. But still, even upon knowing that fact, his brain still wouldn't calm down and it remained a nervous and angry flurry of activity. "Can I speak to Haley?" He asked through gritted teeth, really trying very hard not to sound angry, trying to tell himself that he didn't know anything for certain, not yet at least. "Where is she?"

Nathan shut his eyes and tried to regain some control over the situation he had now found himself in. He took a couple of deep breaths and calmed his racing heart a little so it wasn't beating quite as frantically as it had been and forced himself to block everything else out of his mind, everything but any ideas which would help him get both him and Haley out of the tricky place they currently found themselves in. So far, Lucas might have suspicions but he couldn't know anything for sure, which was a positive. Of course, his answer to his brother's earlier question hadn't been the most thought out response, but still, it left the playing field wide open, which again, was a slight positive. However, Lucas was asking to speak to Haley now, which was bad, because as he looked over at her, he could see that she was in no fit state to talk to him at all, only she had to, because this was supposed to be her room, not their room, so of course she would be in here. "Sure." Nathan said before clearing his throat, hoping that it would help mask the nerves that were currently present in his voice. "Let me just go and see where she is." He continued, before pulling the phone away from his ear.

Haley looked at him in complete bewilderment as he got up from the bed and started to walk around towards where she was sitting. She heard him call out her name and she found herself getting incredibly confused about what he was doing. "Nathan, what the hell are you doing?" She hissed at him in a whisper, mindful of the fact that she didn't want Lucas to hear her.

"Say you were sleeping on the couch in the other room." Nathan responded quietly as he held the phone as far away from his body as he could, also well aware of the fact that he didn't want Lucas to hear their little exchange. He then pulled the phone to his ear. "Found her." He said and then held the phone out to Haley so she could speak to his brother.

"Hello?" Haley said nervously once she had placed the phone to her ear, thankful for the fact that she hadn't spoken yet, so her voice still sounded rather groggy, like she had in fact just been woken up, and hadn't heard the full exchange between Lucas and Nathan.

"Haley?" Lucas said once he heard her voice down the phone, half relieved that he was now speaking to her, and half angry that she was in fact staying in the same room as his brother.

"Yep it's me." Haley continued, not wanting to say more than was necessary at the moment, not until she at least figured out what Lucas wanted from her and also what he suspected.

Lucas shut his eyes, wondering how the hell he could ask her what the hell she was doing in the same room as her boss… but he couldn't quite find the words that would phrase the question in an appropriate way, probably because it was a completely inappropriate question to ask. He shook his head at himself, trying to push the thoughts out of his mind; after all, he had a pretty important breakfast meeting he needed to attend. He could always save his questions for when she returned to New York, couldn't he? Or would that be too late by then? God, he really didn't know what the hell was the best course of action for him to take at the moment. So he decided to stick with the original intention of his phone call, buying himself a little bit more time. "I was just calling to ask where the documents were for Mr Frost." He said.

Haley could hear that there was something different about his voice, something almost disapproving and she winced as she heard it. But she took a deep breath as she felt Nathan move around the bed and sink down behind her, running his hands up and down the tops of her arms, almost calming her down instantly from his touch. "I put them on top of the filing cabinet in your room, I'm sorry; I must have forgotten to tell you I put them there." She responded as she leaned back into Nathan's chest, needing more of a connection from him to help relax her nerves completely.

Lucas stood up and walked over to his filing cabinet, and sure enough the documents were there. He took another deep breath before he spoke to her. "Great, they're here." He said as he picked up the documents.

"Good." Haley responded, keen to get him off the phone as quickly as she could because the longer he was on the phone, the longer he would have to analyse everything. She felt Nathan push her forward a little and his hands began to softly massage her tense shoulders.

"Thanks Haley." Lucas responded, still not having decided whether it was in his best interests to ask his questions now or later, his mind was so jumbled he could barely think straight as it was.

"No problem." Haley said as she breathed a sigh of relief, pleased to hear that their incredibly awkward phone conversation was coming to an end.

"Okay, so I'll see you next week." Lucas said.

"Will do." Haley responded, feeling the weight that was currently residing on her shoulder lift instantly, albeit only temporarily.

Lucas shut his eyes again, still debating what he should do, ask or not ask, but before he could even think about it for a second longer, the words just sort of spilled out of his mouth. "Haley why are you in the same room as Nathan?" He heard his voice ask incredibly quickly, like it somehow knew that his brain would shut it up if it had the chance to think about what he was saying before the words had escaped from his mouth.

_Oh shit, oh shit._ Haley repeated to herself. Just when she had thought that she was going to get away with Lucas not saying anything, just when she had thought their conversation was over, he went and asked her the very question she desperately wanted to avoid. She knew that she needed to come up with something quickly, dawdling on this would not help the situation in the slightest. She therefore spent precisely five seconds willing her brain to come up with a half decent excuse before she started speaking again. "Well Nathan was pretty wasted by the time we finished dinner and drinks with Mr Felton last night, so he couldn't remember what room he was staying in, so I just took him to mine. He passed out on the bed and I took the couch." She lied, feeling Nathan's fingers press into her shoulders a lot more harshly with each word that came out of her mouth; evidently she wasn't the only one who was nervous about this mess they found themselves in.

Lucas was silent, allowing her words to resonate inside his head. He wanted so desperately to believe her, he honestly did but he couldn't help but think that she was lying to him. He knew what Nathan was like, he took business meetings like this one incredibly seriously, and yes, he would drink, of course he would, but he would never allow himself to get so drunk that he wouldn't remember which hotel room he was staying in, would he? It just didn't seem like him at all. But then again, Lucas had never seen how he was in Vegas; it was the entertainment capital of the world after all. He shook his head at himself, knowing that he was making pointless excuses to try to make himself believe what he wanted, instead of face all the facts that were currently in front of him. But could he honestly believe that Haley would ever cheat on Tom, least of all with the owner of the damn company she worked at, surely she was smarter than that, he knew that she was smarter than that…

Nathan felt Haley flinch away slightly from his touch as he continued to massage her shoulders, unaware that he had been digging his hands into her skin much more forcefully than he would have had he been concentrating on what he was doing, instead of eavesdropping on her conversation with Lucas. He instantly relaxed his hands and started to work his fingers into her skin much more gently than before, and he felt her relax slightly, but he could still feel that her nerves matched his equally. Why the hell hadn't Lucas said anything back to her? Did he believe the lie she had just told him or not?

God the silence was worse than if he had just blurted out that he knew she was lying to him. Haley cleared her throat, hoping that the sound would jolt Lucas into saying something, anything to her, only another thirty seconds of silence passed. "Lucas?" She asked, eventually growing far too anxious to suffer a second more of the silence.

Lucas realised that he had been silent for a long time and needed to say something. "Sorry Haley, I just got distracted by this document." He lied as he glanced down to what he was holding in his hands, still incredibly unsure as to what he should believe. He glanced down at his watch and saw that he needed to leave now otherwise he was going to be late for his breakfast meeting, which was just as well as the conversation he was currently having with Haley had gone so far over the awkward line, he couldn't even see it anymore. "Right well I need to get going, thanks for finding the document for me and I'll see you next week." He said.

Haley absolutely hated the fact that she couldn't tell if Lucas had worked it out or not. She wanted to believe that he hadn't, of course that was what she wanted to believe, but there was this nagging thought that wouldn't allow her to completely relax. "Sure, I'll see you next week when I'm back in the office." She responded as brightly as she could given the circumstances she now found herself in. "Bye." She said before she hung up the phone, sighing heavily as she dropped the phone down on the bed and shut her eyes, wishing she could erase the last five minutes of her life completely.

Nathan continued to work his hands on her shoulders as he watched her drop the hotel phone down on the bed. He leaned his head down as he ran his hands down the length of her arms, placing what he hoped would be a soothing kiss on the top of her shoulder, he could literally feel how anxious she was, it was rolling off her in waves, adding to his own nerves. He placed another kiss on her skin and then hovered his mouth above her shoulder. "Stop worrying Hales." He said softly, hoping that he could help calm her down.

Haley felt her mouth drop open. "How the hell do you expect me to not worry after that phone call Nathan?" She said, not understanding how he could suddenly be so calm about all of this. "The only thing there is to do after that is worry." She continued, feeling her body quiver with dread at what was now going to be awaiting them once they got back to New York. What the hell would happen if Lucas went to Tom and voiced his concerns?

Nathan sighed heavily, convinced that if Lucas had suspected anything remotely close to the truth, he would have called him out on it right away. He wrapped his hands around Haley's waist and twisted her around so that she was now facing him and he placed a light kiss on her lips. "Baby, trust me. I know my brother. He doesn't suspect a thing." He said as he ran his hands soothingly up and down her back.

Haley frowned and closed her eyes briefly, before opening them and staring into Nathan's gorgeous blue eyes, seeing that he truly believed what he was saying. But she still couldn't help the doubts that were running through her head, the worry she was feeling in that moment was so overwhelming, especially given that Nathan didn't know the full story with Tom yet either. "Nathan, you might know your brother, but I am sure he thinks there's something strange about all of this." She said in an anxious voice.

Nathan kissed her again on the lips before he lay back in the bed, bringing Haley down with him so that she was lying on top of him. He felt her shuffle against his body until she got comfortable with her head resting on his chest and he shut his eyes as he ran his hands through her hair, hearing her sigh heavily again. "Hales I promise you he doesn't know anything, and even if he does, we can't do anything about it from here, so let's just enjoy the trip okay? We finally managed to get you out here, let's not worry about what Lucas or anyone else thinks for that matter right now." He said softly as his hands continued to play with her hair.

Haley chewed on her bottom lip as she brought her hand up and began to draw patterns on his chest with her fingertips. "I know you're right." She said in a whisper, just loud enough for him to hear her, and even though she knew he was, she still couldn't slow her racing mind down, despite her attempts at trying.

"Good." Nathan said as he leaned his head down and placed a kiss on the top of her head, continuing to move his hand through her hair, enjoying the calming sensation of her hands playing on his chest. "You should go back to sleep baby, you've had a long day travelling and haven't had nearly enough sleep."

Haley sighed softly and rested her hand flat against his chest beside her face. "Night Nathan." She said as she closed her eyes.

"Night baby." Nathan mumbled as he rested his hand on her arm. "Love you."

"Love you too." Haley returned, and within seconds, she felt Nathan's chest rise and fall steadily in time with his breathing, and she knew that he was asleep. She sighed again, knowing that sleep wouldn't come so easily for her now that she had so much on her mind, no matter how much she willed it.

~*~

At some point in the night, Haley must have drifted off into a light sleep, as she woke up before the alarm had gone off, finding herself laying on top of Nathan still. She glanced over at the clock and saw that it was only six in the morning, she still had another hour to sleep if she wanted to before she and Nathan needed to be up. But now that she was awake, she didn't feel tired, especially as she still had so much to think about.

Nathan still had a firm grasp on her back, but she carefully manoeuvred herself out of his hold and rolled off the bed, then headed in the direction of the bathroom. Once she was safely inside, she closed the door and switched the light on, before heading into the shower, switching it on and waiting for the water to warm up. She then grabbed some of the toiletries offered by the hotel and stepped under the warm spray.

As she began to wash her hair, she thought more about the events that had occurred in the middle of the night, remembering Lucas' reactions to her words, as well as remembering what Nathan had said to her once she had got off the phone. As much as she still thought Lucas knew something was up, she realised that Nathan was right, they were both here, in Vegas, spending some quality time together in a place where they didn't have to hide their relationship from anyone, well except Mr Felton and his associates, but they should be able to lose them all pretty quickly. Wasn't it better for them to just enjoy their week away and worry about New York when they were going home? As Nathan said, it wasn't like they could do anything to fix anything from here...

She stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself, feeling incredibly invigorated and refreshed, despite her lack of sleep that night. She dried herself off and then put one of the hotel dressing gowns on her body, before towel drying her hair and then running a brush through it. She then switched the light off and tiptoed back through the bedroom, not wanting to wake Nathan up unnecessarily. She glanced over at his sleeping form as she moved through the bedroom, unable to help the smile that spread over her face, excited at the prospect of spending so much time with him over the next couple of days.

However, before they could enjoy themselves, they had a full day's work ahead of them. Haley walked into the lounge and grabbed some of the documents Nathan had left out on the coffee table, wanting to familiarise herself with as much as she could before they needed to head downstairs to attend the meetings. She placed the documents down on the dining room table and walked over to the phone, ordering her and Nathan some breakfast for around half an hour's time, that way Nathan would then be up to enjoy it, before sitting down and beginning to work her way through as many of the documents as she could.

Nathan heard the alarm ringing beside his head and he stretched his arm out to whack it so that it would shut up, and then reached across the bed, expecting to find Haley lying next to him, only he felt nothing. He blinked as he opened his eyes and stretched out as he took in the empty bed beside him. He sat up in the bed, lifting his arms above his head as he yawned and then jumped out of bed, pulling on some boxer shorts before he walked into the lounge area, finding Haley sitting at the dining room table reading over the documents with breakfast laid out waiting, presumably for him. He smiled as he took in the image of her sat in the white fluffy robe the hotel provided, concentrating so much on the papers in front of her that she hadn't noticed him walking into the room. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, placing a kiss on her neck, breathing in her gorgeous scent. "Mmm, good morning baby." He said, continuing to pepper her skin with feather light kisses.

Haley giggled as the stubble from Nathan's face tickled her skin and she tried to squirm away from him, only the hold he had on her was too strong. "Morning." She said through her giggles, feeling his lips continuing to travel over her skin. "Nathan cut it out; I'm trying to read in case you hadn't noticed." She said teasingly.

"I did notice, what are you reading?" Nathan asked as his mouth moved back along her neck towards her ear.

"The documents for the proposal we're supposed to be working on." Haley responded and then yelped as he bit down on her sensitive spot just underneath her ear. "Nathan!" She yelled, admonishing him for his behaviour this morning, hearing his stomach rumble as he continued his attack on her. "Eat some breakfast!" She giggled, hoping that he would leave her alone if she tempted him with food.

"As hungry as I am, there's something far more appetising than what is on the table which is holding my attention at the moment." Nathan mumbled against her skin as his hand travelled down the front of her robe until he got to the knot she had tied on the rope, trying to pull her robe open so he'd have access to what he wanted.

Haley caught his hand before he was able to open her robe, thankfully. She made sure she had a good grip on his hand and pried it away from her. "Nathan come on, we've got a really busy day ahead of us, and as much as I want you too, I need you to get me up to speed with what's been going on." She said as she placed a chaste kiss on his hand and then stood up from where she had been sitting, wiggling out of his grasp and grabbing a plate. "Croissant?" She asked. "Or would you rather have the pain au chocolat?"

Nathan just smirked at her as she tried to offer him breakfast, knowing that she was right and that they really should be using this time wisely, with him filling her in on what had been said and planned so far, and he agreed with her wholeheartedly, despite how much his body was currently protesting with his head.

Haley frowned at him as she lifted her head and found him smirking at her. "What?" She asked, confused as to what he could have found so funny. "Hurry up and decide which one you want."

"Nothing." Nathan said as he shook his head at her. "I'll take the croissant by the way; I know how much you like your pain au chocolat's."

Haley smiled at him as she placed the croissant on the plate she was holding and handed it to Nathan, before placing the pain au chocolat on her own and sitting down in the chair opposite the one she had been sitting in, watching as Nathan sat down in that one. She bit into her breakfast, unable to hold back the moan. "Mmm that tastes so good."

Nathan couldn't help but smirk at her again. "You know Hales; you're going to be making even more of those moaning noises I love so much when I get you all to myself later." He promised, before picking up the papers in front of him. "Okay, so basically not much happened yesterday, we've agreed to get a valuation done on the building using someone we want as we feel that the building is incredibly overvalued at the moment. The original valuation was done by someone on their side and it's completely ridiculous. The management here weren't particularly happy about that but there's not much they can do about it if they want us to buy from them, so that's probably your first task of the day."

Haley's mouth dropped open as she watched Nathan switch from incredibly sexy into business mode in practically half a second. She didn't know how she was going to be able to work with him for the rest of the week if he carried on behaving like that. She managed to stop herself from berating him for it though, because in all honestly, she secretly enjoyed it. She continued to munch on the pain au chocolat, listening intently to Nathan explaining all that had happened yesterday, as well as assigning her tasks which she needed to complete, before it was time for them to get ready for the day.

~*~

"Hales, come on baby, we don't want to be late." Nathan called as he straightened out his navy blue tie and then grabbed his suit jacket from where he had left it on the chair, placing it on his body, giving himself the once over in the mirror of the hallway.

"Coming, give me ten seconds." Haley called back as she grabbed her lip gloss and spread it out over her lips, before smacking them together. She stepped away from the mirror and ran her hands over her clothes, unsure of why there were butterflies in her stomach. She smiled at her reflection and then walked out of the bathroom, grabbing her handbag from the bed before she walked into the lounge area and over to where Nathan was currently waiting for her.

Nathan opened the door to their room and held it open with his foot, patting his pocket to check that he had the key with his free hand, the other holding all the documents they would need for today's meetings, before he turned to look at Haley, his eyes nearly jumping out of their sockets once he had rested his gaze on her. "Jesus Christ Hales." He spluttered as he ran his eyes over what she was wearing, leaning in to place a kiss on her lips.

"What?" Haley asked as she cowered away from him, pointing at her lips as she wondered what was wrong with her. "Lip gloss." She explained. "Don't you like what I'm wearing? I can go and change if you want me to."

Nathan's eyes ran over the black dress she had on. "No, there's nothing wrong with it at all." He said, taking it all in.

"Well then why did you say 'Jesus Christ' when you saw me in it?" Haley asked.

Nathan eventually found that his eyes worked their way back up her body until they were resting on her face again. "You're just going to make it very hard for me to concentrate on business today, that's all." He said as he held the door to their room open and motioned with his head for her to walk through so he could close it behind them.

Haley frowned at him as she walked through the door, before staring down at the dress she had chosen to wear today. "Why?" She asked in a confused tone once he had shut their door and they started to make their way down the corridor towards the elevators.

"It's the dress, that's all." Nathan said as he glanced down at his watch, noting the time and speeding up the pace they were currently walking at.

Haley sped up alongside him, glancing down at the black dress she had on. It wasn't low cut at all; in fact on the contrary it was cut quite high, had sleeves, stopped just above the knee and had a pretty little bow which wrapped around the front of it. "But Nathan, this is one of my more conservative work dresses." She responded as they came to a halt in front of the elevators and she watched as he pressed the button, calling it to their floor.

Nathan smiled down at her, meeting her incredibly confused gaze as he heard the elevator chime, indicating that it had arrived at their floor and he placed his hand on the small of her back as the doors opened, pushing her gently inside, following after her. "I know." He responded. "I think I'd have trouble concentrating on business no matter what you were wearing Hales, you always look beautiful." He said as he pressed the button which would take them to the business centre.

Haley smiled up at him as she leaned up on her tiptoes, moving her hand up to his chin so that she could turn his face back towards her and she then planted a soft kiss on his lips as she moved her hand behind his neck, holding him there as the elevator began to take them down to their desired floor.

Nathan returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist, before pulling away slightly so that his mouth was hovering just above her lips. "What about the lip gloss?" He asked.

"I really don't give a damn about the lip gloss at the moment." Haley returned, grinning at him as she leaned up to connect their lips again, hearing Nathan groan into her mouth when she slid her tongue inside his, searching for his tongue. As soon as her tongue touched his, she felt Nathan begin to push her backwards, until she was up against the wall of the elevator. His hands had begun to wander and were currently settled on her ass, rubbing it through the fabric of her dress. She whimpered as she felt his mouth move away from hers, wanting more from him, but her whimper soon turned into a moan when she felt his mouth land on her neck, kissing her favourite spot just underneath her ear.

Nathan could feel the elevator beginning to slow down, and he wanted more than anything for it to break down, just so that he could take her here and now, he was so desperate for her, he needed her so badly, but before he could even think about playing with the control panel in a desperate attempt to get the damn thing to stop, the elevator halted abruptly and chimed again. He heard Haley sigh and he smirked into her neck, leaving a trail of soft kisses up to her ear, latching onto her earlobe and pulling on it, before releasing his teeth from it. "I'll make it up to you later baby." He whispered hotly in her ear, before releasing his grip on her ass and stepping away from her. He then pressed the button which held the doors open while Haley straightened out her clothes, before she walked out and he followed, leading her to the room where their meetings would be taking place.

Once the introductions had been made, discussions soon turned towards the valuation that needed to be performed on the building. Nathan sat across from Haley around the large conference table, catching her eye every now and again, smiling at her when he did so. He took in her posture, he could tell from the way she was playing with her hands that she was slightly nervous but that was only because he knew her so well, to anyone else she looked more than at home, sitting around this table full of men.

"So Haley, I guess the first thing we'll need you to do is arrange a valuation on this place." Mr Felton said from his position at the head of the table, throwing a warm smile in Haley's direction.

Haley fiddled with her hands some more as she caught Nathan's eye, and he gave her an encouraging smile. She quickly tore her hands away from each other, mindfully aware that she was fidgeting when she wanted to appear professional, and she cleared her throat quickly as she turned to face Mr Felton. "Actually, Mr Felton, that has already been arranged. I put a call into the same guy who valued the Watson-Drake deal this morning and have booked an appointment for him to come over here at four this afternoon. I've asked for the paperwork to be ready for you to review first thing tomorrow morning." She said, catching Nathan's eye, seeing him smile and nod his head in approval.

Nathan frowned as he heard Haley speak, when the hell had she found the time to make that call this morning? When he was in the shower? He was more than impressed with her efficiency, seeing now why Lucas was so desperate to keep her working for him, not that he would have expected anything less from her of course. He caught her eye and smiled at her as he nodded his head, letting her know that she had done the right thing.

Mr Felton raised his eyebrows and then smiled over at Haley. "Excellent work Haley." He said, impressed that she had managed to sort all this out so quickly, she'd only been in Vegas for a night so far after all.

Talk continued around strategy and how best to get the most favourable deal possible out of the owners without compromising the quality of both their reputations and what they got included in the deal itself. Haley stayed quiet enough, taking notes and flipping through the documents, trying to distract herself from Nathan, who was truly in his element. She watched, completely enthralled by the way he managed to captivate the room, coming up with some very brilliant ideas and suggestions, stealing the limelight from Mr Felton in a respectful way every single time something new was discussed. Truth be told, she was more than a little turned on by how commanding he was and vowed to herself that she would make sure that he made good on the promises he had made both at breakfast and in the elevator.

Mr Felton had mentioned a list of things he needed from his office in passing, and Haley had made a quick note to herself, as well as listening out for anything that Nathan had suggested he would need too, and as lunch was brought into the room, she excused herself and made some calls to both offices, requesting faxes of the documents they had said they needed from each of their secretaries. She walked back into the room and grabbed herself a plate of sandwiches and sat back down in her seat, as the discussions and meetings continued through lunch and on into the afternoon.

Nathan was finding it harder and harder to focus on the meetings as the afternoon wore on, Haley was proving, as he had expected, to be much more of a distraction when she was here in the flesh rather than him just imagining her being there. But on the other hand, he knew that he was going to be able to have her all to himself completely that night, so that helped him push his distracting thoughts out of his mind. Well, they weren't completely out of his mind, but they were pushed to the back of his head at least, allowing him to concentrate on what was being said by Mr Felton and his associates, but the more he thought about how well he was doing, the more thoughts of Haley began to cloud his mind, and he couldn't help but stare at her. He watched Haley intently, finding her professional demeanour incredibly sexy, and the more he looked at her, the more wayward his thoughts would become, imaging himself taking her right here on the conference table, against the wall, the window, quite honestly, any surface would do. He looked over at Haley and she grinned at him, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking in that moment. She licked her lips in a sultry, slow motion with her tongue and he had to grab his coffee quickly to stifle the groan he could feel threatening to escape from his mouth. God how he wished he could feel that tongue of hers on his body right now, he'd almost give anything to feel her, to have her right this very second, he was sure of it.

All of a sudden, he heard his name being called from the left hand side of the room. He shook his head suddenly as he realised that Mr Felton had asked for his opinion on something, and he had to ask him to repeat the question as he placed his coffee back down on the table, glancing up at Haley as he did so, seeing her trying incredibly hard to stop her shoulders from shaking as she was giggling at him. He scowled at her teasingly and shook his head at her before making sure that he concentrated on what Mr Felton was saying, admonishing himself for getting so distracted, but all the while knowing that if Haley were in the same room as him, he'd always get distracted in one way or another.

Haley retrieved the faxes she'd asked to be sent to her during the afternoon break. She was walking back down the corridor towards the meeting room when she saw Nathan walking out of the room towards her, his cocky, signature smirk present on his face. She raised her eyebrows at him as she continued to walk towards him, seeing that mischievous glint in his eyes, and she knew that he was up to something. Before she'd even had a chance to say something to him, she felt him grab a hold of her wrist and he then proceeded to pull her into one of the conference rooms which lined the corridor. "Nathan!" She hissed at him as he kicked the door shut with his foot and then spun her around so that she was pressed up against it, capturing her mouth in a searing hot kiss before she'd even had a chance to ask him what the hell he was doing.

Nathan ran his hands up the sides of her body, pushing his tongue into her mouth as he did so, forcing her to part her lips for him. He groaned into her mouth as his tongue connected with hers, his hands running up the gentle curve of her waist before they found the sides of her breasts. He ran his thumbs roughly over her nipples which he could feel harden beneath the material of her dress and her bra; and he wanted her so badly, he honestly didn't care that anyone could try to walk through the door and catch them in this very compromising position should they want to at any given moment.

Haley moaned as she felt Nathan's hands begin to wander back down her body again. She wrapped one of her arms around his neck, moving her hand into his hair and tugging on it, her other arm was left to the side of her body, as she didn't want to crease the papers she was carrying for both Nathan and Mr Felton. She moaned into his mouth when she felt his hand move over her hip and down her thigh, his touch sending this insatiable fire of need and wanting through her entire body. She felt him pull away from her mouth and he left a trail of hot kisses down to her jaw, before she leaned her head to the side just as he started to kiss her neck. She moaned when he ran his tongue around her pulse point, making her physically ache for him. She could feel his rock hard cock pressing into her stomach, and she wanted him so very desperately.

"Do you have any idea how distracting you are baby?" Nathan mumbled against her skin before he nipped and bit his way up to her ear. His hand continued to travel down her thigh while the other was playing with her hard nipple. He wanted to take her right now, against this door, he couldn't wait until this evening, he needed her this very instant.

Haley couldn't say anything at the moment; she was so caught up in the feel of his hands, his mouth, the way his voice vibrated on her skin. She moaned, hoping that he would know that she meant that it was the same for her. She felt his hand continue its journey down her thigh until he reached the end of her dress, and then she felt his hand move under the material and begin its ascent up the inside of her thigh.

The feel of her bare skin underneath his hand felt so amazing. After eyeing her up all afternoon, to finally touch her, kiss her, was almost too much for Nathan to take. The desire had been burning all day, building into this big crescendo of need, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to last a second longer with her in that room if he didn't satiate his longing for her now.

Haley could feel his hand climbing higher and higher up the inside of her thigh, and she wanted him to touch her right there so very desperately. She was throbbing for him, needing something from him, be it his hand, his tongue, his cock, it didn't really matter. She threw her head back against the door as she waited in anticipation for him to get to where she most wanted him to touch her.

Nathan frowned as he continued to kiss and suck on her neck, feeling the vibration of his phone coming from the pocket of his jacket. He removed his hand from her breast and rooted around in his jacket, eventually pulling out the phone and seeing Mr Felton's name displayed on the screen. With a groan, he removed his hand from under her dress and pulled away from her neck, knowing that if he didn't answer the call, someone would probably come looking for them both. "Hello?" He said as he connected the call, trying to control the pace of his hectic breathing.

"Nathan, we're ready to start again now if you are?" Mr Felton asked.

"Of course, I'll be back in a minute." Nathan said, hearing Haley groan in frustration as he hung up the phone and placed it back in his pocket, chuckling to himself as he placed a wayward lock of her hair behind her ear. "Guess we'll have to continue this later?" He said softly.

Haley raised her eyebrow at him. "I'm going to hold you to that, Mr Scott." She said before leaning in to place a kiss on his lips, incredibly annoyed that they had been interrupted three times now today. Granted the first interruption was by herself, but the second one, and this one were far from her fault, and at least she'd had the sense to stop things in the hotel room before they had got too heated, unlike the other two times they had been interrupted.

"I'm hoping you will." Nathan returned, before placing a kiss on the corner of her mouth and then taking her hand in his, pulling her away from the door so that he could open it for them both. "By the way, Mr Felton said something about going out for dinner tonight while you were out of the room but I managed to get us out of it." He whispered in her ear as he held her close to him, reaching behind her body for the door.

"Good." Haley whispered as she placed yet another kiss on his lips, before she started walking backwards through the now open door, pulling Nathan along with her, who dropped her hand from his the instant she stepped foot outside of the room. She smiled at him as she folded one of her arms across her chest and held the papers she had retrieved securely in her other hand while they walked back into the meeting room, smiling secretly to each other as they entered the room. She walked over and handed Mr Felton his papers, before heading into her own seat and sitting down opposite Nathan again, sliding his papers along the table towards him as the last of the day's discussions began.

~*~

"You know, I have to say Hales, you've done really well in those meetings today." Nathan said as he picked up the glass of white wine the waiter had just poured into both of their glasses. "I'm impressed." He said before taking a sip of the wine.

Haley smiled up at him from underneath her eyelashes, pleased that Nathan was happy with the work she had done today as she ran her finger around the rim of her wine glass before slowly moving her hand down to the stem, picking it up and taking a sip, carefully placing it back down on the table. "What, did you think I was going to be really bad or something?" She asked cheekily.

"No, of course I didn't think you'd be bad, I mean, in all honesty, I didn't know what to expect from you on a professional level, I've never worked with you before obviously. But I have to say, you've very good Hales. I can see why Lucas thinks you're so brilliant." Nathan returned, smiling back at her as he watched her take another sip of her wine.

"Well thank you Nathan. I have to say, you impressed me too." Haley admitted as she placed her wine glass back down on the table, running her hand up and down the stem of it as she looked up at Nathan, whose eyes were switching between her own and watching her fingers play with the glass.

"Oh really?" Nathan asked as he licked his lips quickly, watching Haley play with the wine glass, which incredibly, he was finding incredibly sensual. "And how did I manage that?" He asked as he lifted his eyes to her face, seeing that her eyes were now burning with a desire and intensity he could practically feel. Somehow, her foot had inched closer to his leg, and she was rubbing her foot up and down his calf slowly, in what he was sure was a calculated move, but he wasn't about to complain, he was enjoying the sensations far too much to do that.

Haley flicked her hair over her shoulder as she continued to rub her foot against his leg, feeling his muscles tense and relax with her movements. "I don't know, just the way you take control of the situation, the way you commanded everyone's attention in that room without appearing overly arrogant. I found it really sexy." She said in a hushed whisper as she leaned forward so that he could hear her, stilling the motion of her foot on his leg. "You really turned me on." She said, before she leaned back in her chair and resumed the movement of her foot against his leg, running her tongue seductively over her lips as she saw Nathan watch it's every move, before he gulped as she slipped it back inside her mouth.

"Can I get you any desserts or coffee?" The waiter asked as he stood by the table, interrupting the moment they were sharing.

Nathan looked over at Haley and could see from the look that she was giving him that she wanted a dessert but there was no way in hell he was spending a second longer than was absolutely necessary in this restaurant. Not when all he wanted to do was bury himself so deeply inside of her, not when the only moaning noises he wanted her to make were due to his actions, not the delicious taste of a damn cheesecake, which he knew she'd order as it was her favourite. "No thank you, just the check please." He said, and watched as Haley's face fell and she moved her foot away from his leg completely.

Haley watched as the waiter nodded his head and walked away from the table to get the check. As soon as he was out of earshot, Haley folded her arms across her chest and glared at Nathan. "I really wanted the cheesecake Nathan!" She moaned. "Why can't we have dessert?"

"Hales, you can order all the damn cheesecake you want from room service, hell, I'll even order it for you now so you won't have to wait as long for it, but I am getting you back to our room as soon as I can." Nathan responded as he raised his eyebrow at Haley, knowing that she would instantly get what he meant. He was going to have her naked before they'd even shut the damn door to their room if he had his way, maybe he'd even start in the elevator...

Haley smiled over at him, understanding exactly what he was saying and waited patiently for him to pay the bill. As soon as they got out of the restaurant, Nathan grabbed a hold of her hand and pulled her into his body, wrapping his arm around her waist as they walked back to their hotel, pulling out his phone so that he could place an order of cheesecake with room service. Haley giggled once he had finished his phone call and leaned up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his cheek. "Thanks." She said, and smiled happily to herself as they continued to walk along the street, feeling incredibly carefree that they were able to be this close to each other in public, revelling in how good it felt not having to worry if anyone spotted them, wishing it could be like this when they got home too, although she knew it would be impossible until they told people about their relationship, and she was most certainly not ready for that yet.

Any hopes Nathan had of starting their evening off in the elevator was quickly disregarded when he saw just how many people were waiting by the elevators with bags and bags of luggage. He sighed in defeat as he and Haley joined the queue, and he felt her wrap her arms around his waist and step in front of him, and he leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. They waited patiently and eventually managed to cram themselves in a busy elevator and waited for it to reach their floor.

As soon as the elevator reached their floor, Haley felt Nathan grab a hold of her hand and he pulled her sharply out of the elevator. He marched them both quickly along the corridor, and she watched as he used his free hand to grab a hold of the key to the room from his pocket. "Nathan calm down!" She admonished him as she felt herself be dragged past all the rooms that lined the corridor, wishing that their room wasn't situated so far from the elevators.

Nathan ignored Haley's protests and continued to walk along the corridor until finally he came to their room. He quickly put the key card in the reader and waited patiently for the light to go green, before he opened the door and pulled Haley inside. He pressed her up against the wall and slammed the door shut, dropping the key card onto the floor and pulling his suit jacket from his shoulders, shrugging it off until it eventually fell in a heap onto the floor behind him.

Haley raised her eyebrows as she watched Nathan struggle to get his jacket off. "In a hurry are we?" She asked teasingly.

"I've wanted to have you all fucking day Hales." Nathan returned in a strained voice as he stepped forward, closing the distance between them and capturing her lips with his in a searing kiss, to which Haley moaned into his mouth and wrapped her hands around his neck. He felt Haley run her tongue over his bottom lip and he instantly opened his mouth, allowing her to slide her tongue into his waiting mouth. His hands instantly ran down the sides of her body quickly, not having the patience to savour the way she felt, he was far too desperate for her to take his time with this. Once his hands had reached the bottom of her dress, he bunched it up in his fists and pushed it up her body, removing his mouth from hers so he could pull the dress up over her head.

Haley unwrapped her arms from around Nathan's neck and lifted them up so that Nathan could remove her dress from her body. As soon as it was on the floor, she began to undo the buttons on his shirt, feeling the same need that Nathan felt coursing through her veins, clouding every single thought that was currently in her head. She could feel her body yearning with need and desire that would only be quenched when he was inside of her. "God I need you." She breathed as she lowered her head and began to kiss the exposed skin on his chest, struggling to undo the rest of the buttons.

"Just rip it Hales." Nathan groaned and then grabbed onto his shirt himself, too impatient to wait for her to do it for him, tearing the material away from his body, pulling it roughly off his arms, not caring about the fact that it was now ruined, how the hell could he care about something so trivial when he was moments away from taking what he so desperately needed?

Haley made quick work of getting his trousers down his body, lifting her foot up off the ground so that she could push them down to his ankles. She felt Nathan begin to kiss her neck again, and she groaned as she wrapped her hands back around his neck, rubbing her body against his hard cock which she could feel pressing into her stomach. "Nathan, please, I want you now." She demanded, her breath leaving her in quick, sharp breaths, the anticipation and need she felt inside of her causing her heart to race at an unbelievable rate.

Nathan groaned into her neck and ran his hands down the sides of her body. He was just about to reach her panties when he heard a knock at the door. He mumbled something completely unintelligible against her neck and eventually reached the elastic of her panties, sliding his hands into the lace, deciding that if he ignored the knocking, whoever was on the other side of the door would give up and leave, when the person at the door knocked again.

Haley couldn't believe that they were being interrupted again, and started to giggle when she realised who it must be. "It's my cheesecake!" She said through her laughter, and she pushed Nathan off her body, wanting him to go and get the door so that she could finally eat her dessert.

Nathan felt Haley pushing his body off hers and he pulled away from her, giving her an incredulous look. "Unbelievable." He muttered, not able to hide his annoyance at the fact that he still hadn't fucked her yet as he rolled his eyes at her. "I'm beginning to wonder if you want the cheesecake more than you want me Hales." He said before he reached his arm out to open the door, not bothering to look at who was standing there as he waved them inside, wanting them to get out of the room as quickly as possible so he could actually have some sex this evening without being interrupted.

"Don't tell me. You're so drunk; you've forgotten which room is yours, again…" Lucas said sarcastically as he glanced down at his brother's scantily clad body, seeing that he was dressed in nothing but his boxer shorts with his trousers hanging around his ankles. He then lifted his gaze back to his brother's face, raising his eyebrow at him in disbelief at what he was seeing in front of him.

**AN – So Lucas came to Vegas… did any of you see that coming? **

**As always a preview of the next chapter will be available to those of you that want it, just let me know in a review if you do and I'll get it out to you as soon as possible.**

**Once again, I am sorry about how long this chapter took to get ready; I couldn't decide what I wanted to happen, my brain kept going one way, then the next. Hopefully I won't take so long to get the next chapter up this time!**

**Updates to Never Say Never and Kiss the Rain are also nearly complete, so you shouldn't have to wait too long for either of them if you're reading those stories too.**


	21. Chapter 21

**AN – Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews you guys left for the last chapter! And I didn't take too long to update this time I hope!**

**As usual, just a few words to those of you without accounts who left a review, so I couldn't respond to them personally. **Ann – **I'm so pleased you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope I didn't make you wait too long for this update, I hope you enjoy the chapter. **Kelly – **I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and that Lucas turning up in Vegas was a surprise for you! I hope you like this update. **Judy – **So pleased you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you got my email with the preview in it? **Kristina – **I'm so pleased you are enjoying the story and I hope you got the email with the outtake in it?**

**Alright – so on with the story, Lucas is in Vegas, what do you think is going to happen?**

**Major, major thanks go to Rebecca, Kristen and Elle who did an amazing job reading through this for me before I posted.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Twenty One**

Haley felt like all the air had been sucked out of her body. Time seemed to stand still as she looked over Nathan's shoulder and saw Lucas standing on the other side of the door. She'd been so damn insistent on her stupid cheesecake, if only she hadn't asked for one in the restaurant, Nathan wouldn't have ordered her one and then they probably would have ignored the knocking on the door. But instead she had practically forced him to answer the door, an action she was regretting immensely right about now. She watched as Lucas' gaze moved over to her from where it had been on Nathan previously, and all she could see was the disgust and distaste in his eyes, something which she hated to see in anyone's eyes, let alone her boss'.

God she couldn't even imagine what this must look like to him, as far as Lucas was aware, she was still engaged to Tom, and as much as she wanted to shout out the fact that she had broken up with him, she knew that she couldn't, not when Nathan was standing here between them, not when she didn't want him to find out about it. She only hoped that Lucas didn't blurt it out in front of Nathan, Lord only knew what kind of a reaction Nathan would have to that piece of news, especially as Lucas would more than likely shout out that fact that she was engaged, when she wasn't. It would only serve to make things even more complicated than they already were, which hardly seemed possible at the moment.

Lucas couldn't believe what he was seeing. He'd had his suspicions, of course he had, things hadn't been as he had expected them to be between Nathan and Haley at all in recent weeks and the weird phone call he'd had with both Haley and Nathan that morning had made him even more edgy, even more cautious than usual. And as much as he had wanted to believe what Haley had said to him about Nathan getting drunk and having to sleep in her room, something had been off, and the more he had thought about it through the breakfast meeting he'd had with Tom and Mr Frost, the more his suspicions grew, until they got to a level where he simply couldn't ignore them for a second longer. He'd then returned to his office and booked the first flight out to Vegas, eager to ease what he thought and hoped to been his over imaginative mind. But to walk to the room where Nathan was supposedly staying, only to find him half naked and Haley all but naked against the wall next to him, well he was absolutely furious with the both of them. What the fuck did they think they were playing at? He didn't know who he was more upset with, who he was more disappointed with. But one thing was for sure, he was going to make sure that whatever the hell was going on between them ended right here, right now.

Nathan had wanted to slam the door shut when he saw his brother on the other side of the door, which quite honestly, when you were expecting a waiter to be standing there with a cheesecake in his hands ready for your hungry girlfriend to eat, and instead got your brother who was supposed to be miles and miles away in New York, catching you in rather a compromising position was quite a damn shock to say the least. His first thought was obviously for Haley, and when he looked at her over his shoulder, all he could see was the worry etched so obviously on her face, and he instantly wanted to hold her in his arms and make her feel better. But then his gaze dropped to her body and he saw that she was wearing practically nothing and he instantly grabbed his shirt off the floor and held it out to her. He thrust his shirt towards her body, suddenly feeling incredibly angry that Lucas just showed up here completely out of the blue. He turned his attention back to his brother while he continued to wave the shirt at Haley, who hadn't seemed to notice him at all. "What the fuck is this Lucas?" Nathan hissed at him, well aware that his brother was still standing in the hallway and therefore he didn't want to make too much of a scene. He also noticed that Haley still hadn't taken the shirt from his hands and he was quickly losing his patience with everything. "Hales, put the damn shirt on." He said in a stern voice, which seemingly seemed to get her moving as he felt her take the shirt from his hands, finally.

Lucas shook his head at his brother, wondering how in the hell he could have the audacity to be pissed at him when he was obviously having an affair with his fucking secretary for crying out loud, a secretary that was engaged to one of his employees. How he could be so fucking stupid was completely beyond him, especially when he owned this multi-million dollar company; for all the wealth it bought his brother, it definitely seemed that wealth and money didn't buy him any common sense whatsoever. "You know what Nathan; I could ask you the very same thing." He responded through gritted teeth, clenching his hands together at his side, which seemed to curl into a fist automatically as he desperately tried to resist the urge to punch his brother square in the jaw. "Now are you going to let me in or are we going to continue this conversation in the hallway?"

Nathan continued to grit his teeth together as he glared at his brother, anger running rife through his entire body. He could see from the pointed look that Lucas was giving him that he was also absolutely furious at him for this, but honestly, what right did he have to just show up here out of the blue and demand to be let into his room? However, he was also well aware of the fact that he would have to deal with him at some point, and maybe it would be better for all of them if he just let him in the room now so that both he and Haley could just get this shit out of the way, so that they could continue to enjoy their time away from New York. Hopefully once they satisfied Lucas' curiosity, he'd jump on the next available flight back to New York and leave them both in peace.

Haley had placed Nathan's shirt over her body, but half of the buttons were ripped so she had to hold it together so that she covered herself up adequately. But in all honesty, she could have been stark naked and not noticed, she was still in complete and utter shock that Lucas was standing just outside their hotel room. She watched their heated exchange, practically feeling the anger emanating off both Lucas and Nathan, and then watched in complete horror as Nathan stepped aside with an audible resigned sigh and allowed Lucas to walk right into their room. She was absolutely mortified and incredibly nervous about what revelations were about to be revealed as she continued to hold the shirt close to her body with her shaky hand. She felt like she should say something but she couldn't even find her voice at the moment.

Lucas watched in surprise as Nathan moved out of the way, allowing him entry into the room, which he was also pleased about as he had been precisely five seconds away from barging in there of his own accord, whether Nathan wanted him there or not. He worked hard not to show the surprise in his face, instead keeping it in its current angry stature, which wasn't difficult as he was still absolutely livid with the both of them. He glanced over at Haley as he walked past her as he moved into the room, noticing how nervous she seemed, even her hand was shaking as it held the material of his brother's shirt together on her body but instead of feeling sorry for her, his anger only grew, because she obviously knew she was doing something wrong, yet she hadn't done anything to stop it.

Haley found that she was locked in a trance, her eyes wouldn't move away from Lucas, no matter how much she tried to avert her gaze. She watched Lucas walk past her as he moved further into the room, eyeing her with such revulsion and disappointment as the worry about what he would say to her, worry about what he would think about this crazy situation completely overflowed around her body, seeping out of every single pore of her being until she felt like she would literally crumble to the floor.

Nathan closed the door to the suite behind him and glared at his brother as he watched him walk into the living area. He sighed deeply to himself and ran a hand through his hair, pissed off at the fact that he was making such a big fucking deal out of this. So what? He was in love with his brother's secretary, what was so wrong about that? But then he took one glance over at Haley and knew that he couldn't just dismiss all of this as something so casual, not when Haley was so very obviously anxious about it all. He just wanted to shield her from it all. He walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him as he placed a kiss on the top of her head, rubbing his hand soothingly down her arm. "Stop worrying Hales. It'll all be fine, I promise." He whispered into her hair as he kissed her once more and began to walk them further into the hotel suite.

Haley hadn't even realized she'd been shaking so much until she felt Nathan's hand run up and down her arm. She closed her eyes as she felt him kiss the top of her head, and she willed herself to do as he had said, to not worry, but how could she relax? How could she be calm when all her secrets were seemingly moments away from being revealed? She buried her head into his chest, inhaling his manly scent and allowed herself to drown in him completely for a brief second, clearing her mind completely of all the worry she felt, of all the drama she felt coming, before she felt it begin to creep back into her mind, tainting all her thoughts back into a state of complete and utter panic. She then opened her eyes as she felt Nathan stop moving and stared at the floor, too nervous to look over at Lucas, so instead she concentrated on the carpet, tracing the patterns in it with her eyes, trying desperately to distract her mind once again even though she knew her efforts were completely futile.

Once Lucas reached the middle of the room, he turned back around, and scoffed out loud at the sudden display of unity Nathan and Haley presented, with his arm wrapped around her shoulder, pulling her close to him. His gaze flickered between his brother and his secretary, and he noticed how Haley avoided his eyes completely whereas Nathan's were focused on his own intently, glaring at him with such loathing he almost scoffed again, what right did he think he had to be so angry, he was in the wrong here, they both were so far over the morality line he was sure they couldn't even see it anymore. He continued to glance between the both of them, waiting patiently for them to start explaining themselves, but it seemed neither of them was going to bite the bullet, so it was up to him to break the deafening silence. "Well?" He said, completely flabbergasted at the whole situation and the fact that they weren't talking. "Aren't either of you going to say anything?"

Haley visibly flinched upon hearing Lucas' voice, hating how disapproving he sounded, how angry he so obviously was. She didn't lift her gaze from the carpet, for she was far too scared to look him in the eyes at the moment. She felt Nathan's arm tighten around her shoulders and she allowed him to pull her closer to him, even though she was already as close to him as she could possibly get, she felt much more protected and secure in his arms, she liked how fiercely he held on to her and she savoured it as she didn't know how long it would last, she didn't know if he would want to hold her once Lucas started revealing her secrets. She felt like she was on borrowed time, she could hear the invisible clock ticking inside her head, hammering along to the thumping of her heart.

Nathan pulled Haley closer to him, feeling her shudder as Lucas all but shouted at them. He glared over at his brother, not really knowing what to say, because what the hell could he say? He couldn't very well deny that there was nothing going on, but could he tell Lucas what Haley meant to him, would Haley want that? As far as Nathan could see, it was far better for him to be honest with his brother, and let him know that he loved Haley, rather than just lie and tell him that this was a one off thing, wouldn't that leave them in exactly the same predicament they had been in during the last couple of months? Wasn't it time for them to move their relationship forward, get it out in the open? Wouldn't it be better to give Lucas a chance to get used to the idea that he and Haley were an item, because he sure as hell wasn't going anywhere, but first he had to calm his brother down a little, because from the look of him, he was ready to fly off the handle completely at any given second. "Luke, I know this must look bad…" He started, but found that he was interrupted by his brother.

"Believe me Nathan, this looks far worse than bad!" Lucas interrupted as he ran his hands over his face in complete exasperation. How could his brother not see how wrong this was? How could he just stand there in front of him with his arms wrapped around Haley, and act as if this was normal behaviour? Didn't he understand that what they were doing was unacceptable, how could he be so nonchalant about it all? "What the fuck do you think you're playing at?"

"I'm not playing at anything!" Nathan shouted back, unable to control the volume of his voice given that his brother was shouting at him. It was just a natural reaction, a defensive play by him, but his yelling only seemed to fuel Lucas on further. He then heard someone knock on the door to the suite, and he wondered who the hell it could be now. He glared at his brother as he spun around and went to answer the door, finding the cheesecake he had forgotten he had ordered for Haley waiting for her, but somehow he didn't think she'd want to have it anymore, so he waved the waiter away and slammed the door shut behind him as he returned into the room, finding that Lucas practically had steam coming out of his ears.

"You clearly are playing at something? Why the hell are you fooling around with my fucking secretary?" Lucas barked back, wanting nothing more than to tear his brother's arm from Haley and throw them to opposite sides of the room so they were no longer able to touch each other.

"I'm not fooling around…" Nathan snarled back, hating the fact that Lucas could even think to insinuate that what he had with Haley was so meaningless; it couldn't be further from the truth. He automatically tightened his grip on Haley yet again, sure that his fingers would be leaving marks on her skin but he couldn't help the fact that he wanted to shield her from all that was being said, he didn't want her to have to hear any of the shit that was currently spewing from Lucas' mouth.

"Well what the fuck else can you call this?" Lucas roared back as he gestured between the two of them, and then angrily folded his arms across his chest, tapping his foot noisily against the carpet, waiting for Nathan to provide him with an explanation to this madness.

Nathan could feel Haley's heart racing through the material of his shirt that she was wearing and he was sure that she could feel his own heart beating just as fiercely. He took a deep breath as he realised that the only way to shut Lucas up would be to just admit the truth, given that he had instantly suspected that what he had just seen was him and Haley having a fling. He squeezed Haley's shoulder for a brief second, hoping that she would understand that it was time for them to open up and tell the truth, they'd been hiding this for far too long now. "I love her." Nathan said, filling the silent room with his words, which seemed to make the air that was surrounding them feel heavier somehow.

Haley sucked in a sharp breath when she heard what Nathan had just said and her eyes instantly picked up from the floor and moved up to Lucas' face, taking in his reaction. She cringed inwardly as she saw the shock that was on his face, watching as his eyes moved between her and Nathan disbelievingly and all she could do was shout at him from inside her head; she was pleading with him not to say anything, he couldn't, she didn't want him to spoil what she had with Nathan, she really didn't want him to find out about Tom this way.

Lucas couldn't believe what he had just heard. His brother, in love, with Haley? No. His brain simply wouldn't accept that explanation. He didn't know what he had been expecting, he had half been hoping that he had just walked in on what was a onetime thing, and thankfully he'd interrupted them at just the right time. He kept moving his eyes between Nathan and Haley but his brain was so bewildered he didn't actually see anything. Love? It couldn't possibly be love, how the hell could Nathan be in love with Haley? He had to be joking, that had to be it. He felt almost relieved as he burst out laughing, waiting for Nathan and Haley to join in with him, confusion marring his features after a minute or two when he realised that it was still him, and only him laughing, and Nathan remained in his defiant stance with his arm wrapped securely around Haley's shoulder. His laughter died off as the dread and realisation overcame him; his brother had been telling the truth, he really was in love with Haley. "I'm sorry, what?" He said, surprised that he had even managed to string together that barely there sentence amidst all the confusion which was clouding his brain.

Nathan could by now feel Haley actually quivering in his arms. He leaned his head down and placed a kiss on the top of her head as he watched his brother officially lose his mind. Why the hell was he laughing at them both like that? "It'll all be okay Hales." He whispered reassuringly as his hand resumed its tender rub of her upper arm. Lucas' laughter eventually died down and he raised his eyebrow at him as he continued to glare at him with his hostile stare. "I love her." He repeated in a serious voice, wanting no doubt of his words to even be considered, as he waited for his brother to completely erupt and go absolutely ape shit on him, because he damn well knew it was coming.

Lucas' eyes widened in shock as his brother's repeated words resonated inside his brain. His brother sounded so convincing, he sounded so certain that he was really in love with Haley that he almost didn't want to question it, not again, but he had to because he just couldn't allow himself to believe that was true. What about Tom? How could his brother be in love with someone who was engaged to be married to someone else? "But you can't be in love with her!" Lucas blurted out as his brain continued to whirl in confusion, his eyes still not wanting to see what was right in front of him.

Haley's eyes snapped back up to meet Lucas' gaze as his words filled her ears. She saw his interrogating glare focus on her and she stared back at him imploringly, begging with him not to continue with that line of thought or speech because she knew exactly what he wanted to say, she knew that the reason he had said that Nathan couldn't be in love with her was because of Tom and she was pleading silently with him to just stop. She watched him as she felt her heart rate pick up to what had to be catastrophic levels, and she knew that Nathan could feel it too as she felt his hand squeeze her arm in what had to be an effort to help calm her down, but not even Nathan's touch could soothe her now, not when she was about to lose everything.

Lucas continued to stare at Haley and could obviously see that she was nervous about something. He took in her stature, the way she cowered her body into Nathan as tightly as she could get it, the way she was rubbing her foot nervously along her leg, and as he raised his gaze to her face, he could see that she was biting down on her lip, a characteristic he instantly recognized as her being anxious about something; working with her for nearly a year had taught him more than just a few things about her. But as he raised his gaze further, he caught her stare, and was slightly taken aback by how desperate her eyes were. He grew concerned and confused for a brief second, before he instantly realized that she obviously hadn't told Nathan about Tom.

Nathan could feel the rage beginning to bubble right underneath his skin, getting closer and closer to the surface until he couldn't control it anymore. He was absolutely furious with his brother, he wanted nothing more than to just punch his mouth shut, but instead he clenched his free hand into a fist at his side, knowing that violence wouldn't really serve any purpose, apart from making himself feel better, of course. "And just why the hell can't I be in love with her Lucas?" He spat back, wondering why the hell his brother's eyes had lost some of their earlier disgust as he watched him eye Haley, what the hell was going on?

Haley couldn't take her imploring eyes off Lucas. She knew that he got it, she could tell from the way his eyes changed in their stare the very second he realized that Nathan didn't know about Tom, she could practically feel the atmosphere of the room change suddenly, and she knew that Nathan had to have felt it too, which was incredibly dangerous. She just prayed that Lucas would understand her need for him to not blurt it all out right this very second; she honestly hoped he would give her the chance she needed to explain this all to him, just so that he would understand.

Lucas couldn't wrap his head around the enormity of this situation right now. Nathan had just declared his love for Haley, his secretary, who was engaged to one of his own employees, and he didn't even know about it. What the fuck kind of tangled web had he got caught up in? He felt this overwhelming need to protect his brother from all of this, because in all honesty, he didn't think he'd ever heard him say that he loved anyone in his entire life, so that kind of made this moment a huge one. But it was so wrong, so very wrong. How the hell could they work this one out, and what the fuck was Haley playing at? His anger towards her was growing with every second that passed, but then he had to stop and question himself, because, would the Haley that he hired, the honest girl, with mountains of common sense and decency do something this cruel to someone, let alone the owner of the company she worked at? Surely not? He debated about what he should do, speak up, or give Haley the chance to explain herself, going back and forth, before he sighed heavily, knowing that he needed to answer his brother, a sudden light flicking on inside of his head that would get him out of his outburst. "What about the coffee shop girl?" Lucas asked.

"She is the damn coffee shop girl Luke." Nathan responded through gritted teeth, finding himself completely and utterly exasperated with the whole situation now. He just wanted to be left alone with Haley so that he could make sure that she was okay, she was his one and only concern. "Do you know what Luke? I don't actually give a shit what you think about this to be honest. I'm sorry that Haley happens to be your secretary, but I love her and anything that you say or do won't stop me from feeling that way about her. So you're just going to have to find a way to deal with this, because nothing, and I mean nothing, will stop me wanting to be with her. I can promise you that."

Lucas didn't quite know what to say about all of this. Haley was the coffee shop girl? So how long had this affair been going on for then? He frowned over at Haley, completely doubting the person that he thought she was, which he hated doing, but what the hell else was he supposed to think?

"So if you don't mind Lucas, I'd appreciate it if you left us in peace." Nathan said as he stared defiantly over at Lucas, daring him to open his mouth and say another word to him. He continued to glare over at his brother, who was looking at Haley with the strangest expression on his face, which Nathan didn't like the look of at all, and then watched in grave satisfaction as Lucas started to walk over to them. He stepped out of the way, pulling Haley back with him before he released his grip on her and followed Lucas out to the hallway where he watched him pause for a second. "I presume you'll want to come to the meetings tomorrow?"

Lucas opened the door which would lead him back into the corridor and turned around to face Nathan, nodding his head in answer to his question, but his mind was completely distracted as he hoped that he was doing the right thing by not telling him about Tom, because surely, Haley had to have an explanation for all of this, he couldn't allow himself to believe that she had been leading him on for months on end, he knew deep down that she wasn't like that. But those thoughts did nothing to ease the guilt he felt at keeping this secret from him. His only easing thought was that if he felt like this, Haley must feel a million times worse than he did.

Nathan nodded his head back at his brother curtly but stiffly, wanting to get back to Haley as quickly as he could. "Well we're on level 2, executive room 54 of the conference centre, we're meeting a nine in the morning." He said and then watched as Lucas looked at him strangely for a brief second, then wandered off towards the elevators, presumably to his own room. Nathan stared after him with a weird expression of his own on his face, before he shook his head of his worries and closed the door to his and Haley's room quickly.

Haley didn't know how she should be feeling right about now. She supposed that she should feel relieved, relieved that Lucas hadn't spilled her secret, albeit inaccurately. But she couldn't bring herself to feel that way, not at all. The guilt was eating away inside of her, and she knew that she should take this as an opportunity to tell Nathan about how she was engaged to Tom, and she knew that she should tell him who Tom was, especially as Lucas knew about it now. But then she thought back to all those times she had tried to talk about him before, and how Nathan had always told her to not talk about those kind of things, and then came the devious and deceitful thought that made her still think that she could get away with saying nothing, if only she could just explain it all to Lucas before he unveiled the truth to Nathan. She absolutely hated being caught in this web of lies that she had seemingly so expertly spun for herself, but she hated the thought of losing Nathan even more. God, she felt completely lost, she was battling with selfishness over honesty, her brain felt like it was going to explode given how fast it was spinning, and all she wanted to do was to cry. Wallow in her own self pity. Because she hated the idea that the easiest way out of all this seemed to be to just keep her mouth shut, however wrong she knew that action was.

Nathan walked back into the room and found Haley seemingly glued to the very spot he had left her in. He took in her appearance and could see that she was on the verge of crying and he absolutely hated that she was feeling like this all because of his ass of a brother. He walked up to her and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear before leaning down to place a soft kiss on her lips. He then took his shirt off her body, unfastened her bra and led her into the bedroom, pulling back the covers as he lifted her up off the floor and placed her down in the bed, before climbing in himself, pulling her back into his chest as he cradled her in his arms. "I'm sorry I had to tell him Hales, but I promise you, everything's going to be fine." He whispered into her hair as he placed a kiss on the top of her head, waiting for sleep to claim them both.

Haley closed her eyes as the tears fell silently from her eyes. She didn't deserve his compassion, she felt like she didn't deserve him, not in the slightest at the moment. But she also felt completely paralyzed as she lay in his arms. Being wrapped up in arms brought a bittersweet numbness to the feelings whirling around inside of her, and as wrong as it was, she wanted to bask in it for as long as she could, because she knew, at any given moment, Nathan could find out about it all, and she honestly thought that he wouldn't want anything to do with her once he knew, especially if he found out from Lucas and didn't even allow her the time to explain.

~*~

Haley placed her hand over her mouth in an effort to cover her yawn. She was so incredibly tired, she hadn't slept a wink last night, her mind had been far too active for her to even contemplate resting. Any other night she was sure that the gentle rise and fall of Nathan's chest against her back would lull her to sleep right away, but that hadn't worked last night, not when she had felt that she had been on borrowed time with him; she had almost wanted to savour every moment of last night, given that the power to devastate their relationship was now in Lucas' hands, and she didn't know if he was planning on playing that card anytime soon. And she had more than paid the price for her lack of rest this morning, she wanted nothing more than to lay her head down on the table and catch even a couple of minutes sleep, surely it would help somewhat with the tiredness she felt. She knew that Nathan could tell that she was exhausted, she caught his gaze from across the table on more than one occasion but the atmosphere of the room had changed dramatically from yesterday. Gone was the flirtatious air that had surrounded her and Nathan yesterday, and tension so palpable she could feel it running in a chill up her spine was now in its place. She could feel Lucas' eyes trained on both herself and Nathan constantly and she found it incredibly unnerving.

Lucas wasn't concentrating on the meeting at all. It had taken him hours to finally fall to sleep last night, the guilt at having decided to not tell his brother what he knew about Haley and Tom whirled uncomfortably in his stomach while he lay in bed, over thinking and overanalysing every single detail. How had he missed the fact that something was going on between Haley and Nathan? Had he really been that blind not to even consider the notion that something was developing between them, or were they simply too good at hiding their feelings and their relationship for him to have seen anything? Either way, he wished he had found out sooner, that way maybe he could have intervened before Nathan's feelings for Haley had grown so deep, if he had noticed it before then he could have put a stop to it all before he had fallen in love with her. He continued to stare between the both of them, trying to catch a look, a silent exchange, just something between them, to prove that he was right, to prove that he should have seen it, but so far he hadn't seen anything, which frustrated him no end, but also eased his conscience somewhat as well.

Eventually the mid-morning coffee break came and Haley felt too awkward to hang around in the room, what with Lucas and his scrutinising glare still focussed on her and Nathan, so she decided to leave the men to talk business and wandered along to the business centre reception so that she could pick up the faxes which should be waiting for her about the valuation performed yesterday. She entered the room full of equipment and wandered over to the pigeon hole designated for their room, pleased to find that the fax was waiting for her. She picked it up and began to flick through it quickly, checking that all the necessary documents were there. It was only then as she turned around to walk back out of the room that she realised that Lucas had followed her. She stood still, completely rooted to spot while trying desperately to find some words, only she didn't know what the hell to say to him. She started to panic, the blood began to pump wildly through her body, her heart was beating frantically and her fingers clenched the valuation in her hands so tightly it was a wonder the paper didn't crumple entirely.

Lucas didn't know what had possessed him to follow Haley when she left the room they had been stuck in all morning. He could see that Nathan was trapped in what looked like a lengthy discussion with Mr Felton so he knew that this was his window of opportunity to get some answers to the questions he kept asking himself, and even though he knew that now was so not the best time and place for this discussion to happen with Haley, he also knew that he wouldn't be able to hold off his curiosity much longer. He continued to watch Haley, who had suddenly become incredibly nervous again, fidgeting uncontrollably, which was in turn making him rather uncomfortable too. But the anger and the guilt he currently harboured for his brother by far overruled any other emotion he felt. "How could you do this to him?" He eventually said, filling the silence that had enveloped them for some time now, the fury he felt making itself more than known. In this very moment he completely disregarded the fact that she was his secretary, because right now, she was simply a woman who held enough power over his brother to completely shatter and break his heart, and he wasn't going to stand for that.

"Lucas, I know what this must seem like to you but you don't know all the facts." Haley returned, finding herself keen to calm his anger down a little before she explained what had happened between her and Tom.

"Well Haley, I think you'd better damn well start explaining them to me then, because as far as I can see, my brother, who I've never heard say he loved anyone in his whole life, seems to feel that way about you, yet you are engaged to one of his employees! I mean what the hell are you doing?" Lucas hissed back at her, rather conscious of the volume of his voice, given that they were in a far from private place at the moment.

"I'm not with Tom anymore." Haley explained and watched as Lucas' face twisted in disbelief.

"What do you mean you're not with him? I had lunch with him yesterday Haley, and he seems to think that you are still very much engaged to him." Lucas returned, wondering if she had somehow lost her mind or something, how could she think that they weren't engaged and Tom think that they were? It wasn't something that you could get confused about, either you were engaged or you weren't, so what on Earth was she talking about? Was she simply lying to herself now as well as everyone else?

Haley couldn't help but scoff at Lucas' words, was Tom seriously still deluding himself that they were together? How could he even think such a thing when she had very clearly told him that they were no longer an item, no longer engaged? "I told him that it was over, he just refuses to accept that." She returned.

"What? So you're not engaged to him?" Lucas responded, his mind was now so confused he couldn't even think straight. If she wasn't engaged to him then did that make all of this mess okay?

"No I am not." Haley said forcefully, wanting to make that fact more than clear.

"And Nathan knows that you were engaged to Tom?" Lucas asked, because if he knew that, and also knew that they were no longer together, and he accepted it, then wasn't all of this fine, wasn't there no need for him to worry at all. He could almost feel the weight being lifted off his shoulders; the guilt was beginning to slowly melt away from deep inside of him, the relief he felt in that moment was so uplifting, he breathed a deep sigh, safe in the knowledge that he hadn't in fact been keeping things from his brother at all.

Haley had been rather surprised with how Lucas' demeanour had changed so drastically, from utter anger towards her when he had first walked into the room, to now talking to her incredibly amicably, yet he had just asked her the one question she really didn't want to have to answer. She could see from his face that he would probably accept their relationship had everything been out in the open, yet that was so obviously not the case. She thought about lying to him, but she was tired of keeping things from people, she didn't want to get herself even more tangled up in this mess, and anyway, if she did lie to Lucas and tell him that Nathan knew everything, wasn't the risk of Nathan finding out about Tom even greater than it was already?

Lucas' face fell as he continued to watch Haley, the torment making itself unpleasantly known on her face and he knew in that instant that Nathan didn't know everything. But what didn't he know, didn't he know who Tom was but he knew that she had been engaged, or did he know who Tom was but didn't know that they had been engaged? "He doesn't know it all, does he Haley?" He asked, the dread creeping its way back into his voice.

Haley bit down on her lip nervously, feeling so small in that moment. She shook her head, avoiding Lucas' gaze completely because she really didn't want to see the disappointment and anger that she knew would be there, feeling enough of it from within herself without needing the judgement of someone else adding to it.

"God Haley!" Lucas cried out, exasperated once again at the situation Haley had got herself into. "What doesn't he know? That you were engaged at all or doesn't he know about Tom?" He asked, unsure at the moment which of those would have been the worst option. He supposed if Nathan didn't know about Tom then that would be quite major, but then again not telling him that you were engaged was also quite a big thing to hide, especially given how recent it had been.

And right about now, Haley wouldn't have minded one bit if the ground just decided to split open and swallow her up. She slowly lifted her eyes from her feet and met Lucas' demanding gaze. "He doesn't know about any of it. He only knows that I had a boyfriend." She admitted, the guilt at keeping these secrets from Nathan so prevalent she could barely take it.

And that had been exactly the answer Lucas hadn't wanted to hear. "How can he not know who Tom is Haley, you do realise that he works directly under Nathan, don't you? I presume Tom doesn't know about the two of you?" Lucas responded, not believing what he was currently hearing in the slightest.

"No Lucas, he doesn't know about Nathan and I and I'd appreciate it if things stayed that way." Haley responded, suddenly finding some strength from somewhere deep inside of her, because that was the very thing she didn't want to happen, Tom finding out about her and Nathan so soon after she had broken up with him would have a catastrophic effect so far reaching she didn't even want to think about what would happen if that ever came to fruition.

"Well you can't hide from him forever Haley! And what effect do you think this will have on Nathan when you eventually decide to tell him?" Lucas responded, finding that he was growing tired of these lies Haley had seemed to encase herself in. Didn't she know that she was only delaying the inevitable? She was going to have to deal with this at some point, surely she knew that much?

Haley suddenly grew incredibly protective, the damage she saw upon telling Nathan all of this flashing in front of her eyes and she didn't like it at all, she didn't want to do anything that would make him feel that way, ever. "Why the hell does he have to know Lucas? I know how much it will hurt him if he does find out, which is exactly the reason why I haven't told him. He knows I had a boyfriend and he knows I have since broken up with him. He also knows that I love him and he's happy. Why ruin all of that just for semantics?" She hissed back at him, folding her arms across her chest as she did so, hoping that this would add to what she hoped was a rather intimidating demeanour.

"Haley, there is a huge difference between having a boyfriend and being engaged." Lucas responded. "By saying yes to Tom you were committing to him for the rest of your life, don't you think that Nathan deserves to know that fact? And don't even get me started on you not telling him about the whole Tom thing. Do you think that Nathan is going to want to hide away with you for the rest of his life? What are you expecting Haley, for Tom to suddenly quit at Scott Investment Management so that you can continue living in your fairytale with Nathan? You need to wake up to the reality of this situation. Both Tom and Nathan are going to find out about this sometime, and you know it will end up being much worse if they don't hear it from you."

Haley's mouth had dropped open throughout that entire speech, wanting to interrupt and say something back to him but he hadn't given her a chance. And now she didn't know what the hell to say, as his words echoed in her mind, confusing her. All she knew was that she didn't want to have to tell Nathan about Tom, because she was scared of losing him, of hurting him. "I still don't think…" She started, but abruptly shut her mouth when she saw the door opening behind Lucas.

"Oh, hi Lucas, Haley."

Lucas turned around and saw Mike holding up some papers, indicating he had something to fax or photocopy or whatever he needed to do. He nodded his head in greeting and then turned back to Haley, wanting to convince her, to have her promise him that she would tell both Nathan and Tom about each other, and soon, but he watched as Haley shuffled past him, obviously rendering this conversation closed.

"I should get this valuation back to Mr Felton." Haley mumbled as she walked to the safety of the door, and exhaled a huge sigh of relief once she entered the corridor, pleased to have managed to escape the tension filled room. She continued to walk towards their meeting room, the weight of Lucas' words weighing heavily on her mind, but she continued to tell herself that she was doing the right thing by not saying anything, for both Nathan and herself. At least she hoped she was because if she searched a little deeper inside of herself, she would reveal that she didn't want to tell Nathan about Tom for mostly selfish reasons.

~*~

Lunch was filled with an awkward air of tension. Haley felt like she was being followed around by a dark cloud which wouldn't lift at all. She also found herself sandwiched between the two Scott brothers, which caused a strange sensation to whirl about inside of her. On one side of her, she could feel Nathan's warmth, radiating out to her just like it always did, but then on the other side all she could feel was this chill of hostility coming from Lucas. And she couldn't help the shivers that run up her spine every now and then because of it. She nearly knocked the table with her leg when she felt Nathan's hand land on her thigh. She managed to calm down the shock that he was touching her like that while they were surrounded by people and she felt him squeeze her leg gently, as if to ask her if she was okay, and she managed to sneak a glance over at him and offer him a quick smile, hoping that he wouldn't see the confusion behind her eyes.

Nathan didn't know what the hell had happened, and he didn't quite understand why she seemed to think that Lucas finding out about them was such a big deal. He only saw it as a good thing, because now that he knew about their relationship, what reason was there to hide it from anyone else, surely he had been the last person Haley had wanted to know about them, so what now was holding them back? She had seemed a little jumpy and uncertain around him this morning, but everything seemed to have changed incredibly when she had come back into the meeting room with that fax in her hands; suddenly she seemed so very distracted and distant. And as they sat at the table in the restaurant they had chosen for lunch with everyone who was working on the project, it seemed to him that she was in another place entirely. He had placed his hand on her leg incredibly gently, so as not to startle her but she had still jumped about ten feet in the air, which only made his concern for her grow to unexplainable levels.

Haley continued to eat her lunch, not really paying any attention at all to the delicious food she was eating, she could hardly taste it given how distracted she was with her thoughts. She breathed an audible sigh of relief when Lucas announced that he was going to head straight to the airport after lunch was over, given that he had more important meetings with Mr Frost to attend tomorrow in New York. Nathan had since removed his hand from her thigh, given that it was hardly the most appropriate time for him to be fondling her, but she could tell that his focus was almost entirely trained on her. She could sense the worry he carried for her, but with the knowledge that Lucas wouldn't be around for the rest of their trip to weigh her down with talk of spilling her secrets, she instantly felt lifted, and she also noticed the slight change in Nathan's demeanour also.

Nathan continued to watch Haley closely, and noticed the sigh of what could only be described as utter relief that she released when Lucas had said he was heading back to New York this afternoon, and he couldn't help but wonder if Lucas had said something to her while he hadn't been around. But that was impossible wasn't it, because Haley had been with him all morning, aside from her stepping out of the room briefly to get a fax and another time to use the restrooms. He must be getting slightly excessive with worry over her, he decided. He took the last sip of his coffee, before leaving the table to use the restrooms himself, only when he was satisfied that Haley would be okay with him gone, and besides it wasn't like Lucas could shout and scream at her in front of Mr Felton anyway.

Lucas saw this as his chance to get the final word in with Haley, given that he needed to leave for the airport and that Haley was finally without Nathan at her side. He carefully glanced around the table, pleased to find that Mr Felton and all his associates appeared to be in deep discussion about the favourable valuation Haley had organised for them. He leaned over slightly so that Haley could hear him despite the fact that he would need to speak in practically a whisper so that no one else around the table would hear him. He had sensed how on edge she had seemed since last night, and it had only proceeded to get worse, which wasn't going to help her development here in Vegas at all. "Listen Haley." Lucas whispered. "You need to relax, okay; you being as skittish and panicked as you currently are isn't going to help anything. I'm not going to tell Tom, nor will I tell Nathan because I honestly think that is something that you need to do."

Haley once again could feel the weight she had been carrying around with her lift off her shoulders. She was safe, safe from the fear that Lucas would tell everyone everything. She closed her eyes for a second as she allowed the relief to wash over her completely, allowing the worry and dread to melt away from her body. She then opened her eyes and turned her head towards Lucas, wanting to express her gratitude for him respecting the fact that this was her decision, and hers alone to make. She was glad of the fact that he seemed to think he had no right to tell people, and quite honestly, she wholeheartedly agreed with him. "Thank you." She said sincerely as she looked him in the eyes without anxiety for the first time since he had landed in Vegas and turned up to her and Nathan's hotel room.

"You know what you have to do though Haley, please don't keep this from either Tom or Nathan for much longer though. You have to tell them and I think you know that too, deep down. I have faith in you that you'll make the right decision on this." Lucas whispered back to her, giving her one last look, pleading with her to tell them both incredibly soon, because he knew the longer she waited the harder it was going to be for Nathan especially to take. He then stood up from the table and said his goodbyes to Mr Felton and the rest of the team, before leaving the restaurant, praying that he had done the right thing in leaving this in Haley's hands.

~*~

Haley hadn't wanted to go out for dinner, nor had she wanted to head on down to one of the restaurants in the hotel, so instead they had opted for room service. Nathan watched as she ate the cheesecake she'd had to forego last night with a smile on his face, pleased that they were able to now get back to spending some quality time with each other for the rest of the trip, with hopefully no more unwelcome interruptions. Now that Lucas knew about their relationship, and seemed to be fairly accepting of it from what he had seen, he was actually excited to get back to New York and be able to act like a normal couple with Haley, finally. But his smile soon faded yet again as he continued to watch how preoccupied she seemed to be, while appearing incredibly vacant to him all at the same time. He sighed deeply as he reached over and clasped her hand which had been resting on the dining room table in his, startling her out of her daydream. "What's wrong baby?" He asked.

Haley jumped as she felt Nathan's hand land on hers, and she moved her eyes away from the wall she had been staring at and smiled softly at him. She had a whole heap of worries which were mulling around in her mind, yet she didn't feel like she wanted to share any of them with Nathan at the moment. She placed the fork which had been hovering in her hand back down on the plate and then moved her hand to cover Nathan's, wanting to reassure him that everything was okay. "I'm fine Nathan, honestly." She said, hoping he wouldn't read too much into their practically silent dinner, cursing herself for not being able to be a better actress.

Nathan frowned as he looked intently at her, not believing that everything was fine at all, because he had seen how distant she had been all damn day. But he didn't want to labour the point. "If you want to talk Hales, I don't mind listening." He responded, hoping that she would take him up on his offer because in all honesty he didn't want her to be like this. But he left it up to her, the ball was firmly in her court, and if she didn't want to talk to him then he couldn't very well force her to, even though he sincerely wished she would.

This was it, this was the perfect opportunity for Haley to say something, to tell Nathan about Tom and how she had been engaged to him, but to explain how wrong it had all been and tell him how right everything felt when she was even in the same vicinity as him. She licked her suddenly too dry lips and squeezed his hand which was still covered by her own, suddenly hyperaware of every little sound, the loudest to her being her rapidly beating heart which roared in her ears. She focussed her eyes on him, suddenly becoming incredibly nervous and tightening her grip on his hand as if she knew instinctively that by opening her mouth to speak he would start to slip away from her, and she desperately didn't want that, she wanted him with her, by her side, she wanted to love him, always.

Nathan could feel Haley's hand tighten around his, like she was holding on to him for dear life and he continued to look right back at her, seeing the desperation in her eyes. He didn't understand what was troubling her so much; he didn't understand why she was looking at him like she was grieving for something she had lost. None of it made any sense to him at all. "Haley?" He questioned, wanting to break into the silence that was currently surrounding them, which seemed to be suffocating him, filling his mind with dread and fear and worry. He just wanted to make it all okay.

Haley heard Nathan calling her name and it felt like she was being woken from a trance. Lucas' earlier words had been running through her mind like a mantra, but when Nathan pulled her out of her thoughts, which she felt like she was drowning in, it was as if she suddenly saw clearly everything again, the fog inside her mind clearing, giving her a much better outlook on everything. Why would she ever be so stupid as to tell Nathan about Tom, when she was so sure that she wouldn't need too? What was the point in sacrificing something she cared so much about for something that had happened in the past and no longer meant a thing to her, when the man in front of her now meant everything? "It's nothing; it's just been a strange day, what with Lucas and all." She returned and then gave him a proper smile, one in which she was distracted by what she now realised were completely ludicrous thoughts.

Nathan could sense the change in her; suddenly she was back to her old self again, which he was so very pleased about and her grip on his hand had ceased to be so desperate and now she was softly stroking his hand with her fingers. He considered her for a moment longer, looking at her with such intensity, just to make sure that she really was okay. She had been right, of course, today had been an incredibly weird day, but one which he felt had given them a big step forward in their relationship. "It certainly has been a strange day." He said, coming to the conclusion that whatever had been troubling her had passed. "Come on, I have a surprise for you." He said as he stood up from the table and yanked on her arm gently, before leading them into the bedroom. Once inside he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, placing a chaste kiss on her lips. "Did you bring anything to swim in with you?" He asked as he pulled his head back so that he could look at her, smiling to himself at how beautiful she was as he swept her hair away from her face and secured it behind her ear.

Haley looked up at him in confusion. "I did." She returned, wondering where he was going with this.

"Good, get changed and then walk right down to the end of this corridor until you get to the stairs, and walk right to the top. I'll be waiting for you up there." Nathan instructed as he released her from his hold and walked over to his suitcase, pulling out his swimming trunks which he quickly changed into, before grabbing the keys he had obtained earlier on in the day when he was given another tour of the building, as well as his mobile phone.

Haley watched him as he rushed past her and grabbed one of the fluffy dressing gowns the hotel provided, put it on his body and then walked back past her, kissing her on the cheek as he went, while she remained rooted to the spot.

"Get moving Hales." Nathan called over his shoulder as he laughed at her confused expression.

"But it's dark out." Haley responded in a puzzled tone.

"I know. Just meet me at the top of the stairs." Nathan said and then opened the door as he made a call on his mobile, checking that what he had planned could actually happen, before he closed it behind him and made his way down the hotel corridor.

~*~

Nathan smiled as he watched Haley ascend the last of the stairs, dressed in a fluffy white dressing gown which matched his own. He could see the apprehension in her eyes, and he had to chuckle at that. "Relax Hales, we're not doing anything wrong, I promise you." Nathan said as he held the door open for her, watching as she walked past him and then the followed behind her, closing the door behind him so that they would have their privacy.

Haley walked through the door which Nathan held open for her and gasped at what she saw in front of her. "Oh my gosh! It's beautiful." She said as she took in the rooftop pool Nathan had discovered. The lights in the pool were on, making the water seem warm and inviting, and she wanted to jump in right away. "How did you manage to get us access to it?" She asked, hoping that Nathan had been honest when he said that they weren't doing anything wrong because she was sure that they weren't actually supposed to be here.

"It belongs to the presidential suite on the floor below, but seeing as there's no one staying in it, I thought we might make use of it." Nathan returned as he walked over to one of the sun loungers and took his robe off his body before diving into the water.

Haley couldn't keep her eyes off Nathan's body as she watched him gracefully enter the water, seeing the tautness of his muscles on every inch of his body as he glided underneath the water, before he resurfaced, looking incredibly sexy with the water droplets hanging from his dark mass of hair which were twinkling at her in the dim light that surrounded the pool. She watched him motion to her with his hand, inviting her to join him and so she stripped the robe off her body and dropped it into a heap beside her, before she walked over to the water's edge and sat down, dripping her feet and half her calves into the water, smiling over at him shyly as she did so.

Nathan was completely mesmerized by the mere sight of her. She looked absolutely phenomenal in her black string bikini, her legs looking lusciously long, her stomach toned and trim, the curves of her body so womanly and inviting that he could feel his fingers twitching as he continued to tread water, longing to touch her. He swam leisurely over to her, unable to keep the smile from his face as he watched her sit down at the pool's edge. Once he reached her he stood up and ran his hands up from her ankles to her knees, parting her legs slightly so that he could stand in between them as he continued to run his eyes over her body, before they settled on her face. "Do you want to come in?" He asked as his hands moved further up her legs.

Haley nodded her head at him and felt his hands move further up her leg until they settled on her hips. She then felt him lift her body up as he began to slide her into the water, walking away from the edge of the pool towards the middle and she rested her arms on his shoulders, keeping more of her body out of the water than in. She felt Nathan's hands move up her back and she breathed in deeply, trying to get her body adjusted to the temperature of the water. She lowered herself down further into the water and as soon as her lips were level with Nathan she felt him pull her into his body, his lips covering her own. And in that moment, Lucas' words came back to haunt her, they whirled eerily in her mind and she had to pull away from Nathan, trying to do so slowly so as not to raise his suspicions, needing to create some space between them. She swam back to the side of the pool and calmed herself down, pleased that he hadn't seemed to notice the sudden change in her demeanour.

Nathan watched as Haley lay her head back and began to float on the surface of the water, finding that he was unable to do anything but stare at her, marvelling at her beauty, at just how perfect she was. She held onto the side of the pool with one of her hands, keeping herself afloat as the other moved through the water, and she appeared to be deep in thought. His eyes ran over her body again, covering every single inch of her form as he watched her for a while and he couldn't help the hardening of his cock in his trunks, which suddenly seemed to feel really constrictive and he knew he couldn't keep from touching her again for much longer. He walked over to her and found himself standing by her head, so he leaned his face forward so it was covering hers, the shadow he created causing her eyes to open and he smiled at her. "I love you so much baby." He said before he leaned his head down to place a gentle kiss on her lips.

Haley lifted herself up from the water back into a standing position and leaned back against the wall of the pool as she watched Nathan move so that he was standing in front of her and she smiled up at him. Lucas' words were still rolling around in her mind, but hearing Nathan proclaim his love for her helped to silence those thoughts somewhat. But she still had this niggling thought running through her mind as she debated with herself, should she really listen to Lucas and tell Nathan about Tom? "Do I make you happy Nathan?" She asked, because she needed to know, she needed to hear him say it, that way she'd feel so much better about her decision to not say anything to him about it all, well no more than she had already, which was very much in all honesty.

Nathan smiled back at her as he shook his head at her. "How can you not know that already baby?" He said. "You make me the happiest person alive. There's no one else for me, only you. Nothing could ever take me away from you." He returned seriously, looking into her eyes as he spoke before he ran them over her body, down to where her breasts were currently bobbing at the surface, finding himself growing harder still as he lifted his gaze back up to meet Haley's.

Haley smiled wistfully as she allowed Nathan's words to resonate inside of her. He loved her, she made him happy, and he wanted to be with her, regardless. She basked in the knowledge of all three of those things, knowing that nothing else mattered, especially the revelation of secrets he so obviously didn't want to hear, given his previous reactions to her talking of Tom. She looked up into his eyes, noting their darkened hue as he waded in the water towards her, closing the slight distance that was currently between them and she willed him to get to her quicker, the need for him making her entire body yearn with longing. And when he finally reached her and she felt his hands run up her thigh and over her hips before they settled on her waist. She held her breath in anticipation as she felt his mouth lower to her lips, and she closed her eyes, hearing him whisper his words of love for her as his mouth hovered over hers. "I love you too." She whispered as she wound her hands behind his neck and pulled his mouth down to hers, feeling his lips softly meet hers as this wave of love crashed down on her entire being so forcefully, she felt like she was drowning again, only this time, she allowed herself to drown completely, because there was no better feeling than to feel as if you were drowning in the arms of the man that you loved. So Lucas maybe right about one thing, she was living in a fairytale, but her fairytale wasn't make believe, it was real, and she knew in that moment that she was certain that her not saying anything to Nathan was the right thing to do, because they deserved their own happy ending, they both needed their happy endings to be with each other, and she was going to make sure that nothing got in the way of that happening. And as for the big bad wolf? Well she'd deal with Tom when they got back to New York, but right now, as she felt Nathan's mouth tongue lick her lips and she parted her mouth in welcoming, she was going to concentrate all her efforts on showing Nathan just how much she wanted him, she was going to show him just how much she loved him.

**AN – Okay! So Lucas knows... and Nathan still doesn't know... how long is that going to last? Please let me know what you thought of the chapter by leaving a review.**

**And also there's roughly 2,000 words-ish outtake which follows on from where I ended this chapter, just let me know in a review if you want me to send it to you and I'll get it to you ASAP. I just felt like the chapter came to an end more naturally where I ended it.**

**As well as the outtake, as usual there will be a preview for the next chapter available to those of you that want it when I get it written, again, just let me know in a review if you do – if my current chapter plan goes ahead as planned there's a whole heap of drama happening in the next one.**


	22. Chapter 22

**AN – Thank you all so much for the reviews of the last chapter! You all keep me smiling and keep me writing so thank you!**

**As always, a few words to those of you without accounts so I couldn't respond to your review personally, **Judy – **I hope you got the email I sent you, I'm so pleased you are enjoying the story and I hope you enjoy this update! **Keeta – **I'm so pleased you are enjoying this story and as for Tom, all will be revealed soon enough... hope you like the update and hope you got the email.** Danika – **Sorry I couldn't send you the email, your address got blocked out of your review, if you still want the outtake, then try putting some spaces between your email address and I'll get it to you ASAP, so glad you liked the chapter and hope you enjoy this one too! **Ann – **I know, Haley really should tell Nathan... hope you like this chapter! **AJ – **I'm so pleased you are enjoying this story so much, hope you got the outtake okay, and I hope you enjoy this chapter too! **Lia Comfort – **So glad you liked the last chapter, hope you got the outtake I send and I hope you enjoy this chapter! **Kristina – **Glad you enjoyed the chapter and the outtake, hope you enjoy this chapter too!**

**A big, big thanks go out to Kristen and to Rebecca who as always do an amazing job encouraging me and read through this chapter for me before posting.**

**I really wanted to get another chapter of one of my stories out to you all before Christmas, so I hope you all enjoy and I'll chat to you all at the bottom.**

**Chapter Twenty Two**

The rest of their time in Vegas had gone smoothly, with no more unwelcome interruptions, which to be honest wasn't exactly going to happen given that the strangest thing possible, Lucas turning up, had already occurred. The new, more favourable valuation Haley had managed to organise had put things in motion rather quickly and negotiations with hotel management and investors were now in full swing. Yes, it had been an incredibly stressful couple of days, with long hours being worked and little sleep being had, but Nathan could practically smell the deal coming to fruition. He was absolutely in his element at times like these, the buzz and thrill of working out a deal, of ensuring that the best arrangement was to be had by all, was something he completely relished about his career, and he was more than enjoying being back on the floor again instead of dealing with the paperwork from behind a desk once the negotiations had happened. He looked around the table he was currently sat at, in the company of all who had worked on the deal this week, minus his brother of course, and listened to Mr Felton's toast as he held up his glass of champagne, unable to resist sneaking a glance over at Haley, who he had come to realise was an incredibly talented woman, in more ways than one this week.

"So I would like to finish by saying well done to all of you, I know we've all put in the hours, and we are more than appreciative of that." Mr Felton finished, before turning to Nathan and raising his eyebrows, as if to say that it was his turn to say something now.

Nathan cleared his throat. "I'm going to keep this short and sweet." He said, as his moved his eyes around the table again, before resting them once more on Haley, who was looking at him with such a smouldering gaze his breath almost caught in his throat. He took a deep, cleansing breath as he continued to look at her, finding that he was trapped under her spell again. He had to quickly rein his concentration in, and eventually managed to find the words that had evaded him for more than a couple of seconds. "Thank you all for your hard work these past couple of days, know that each and every one of you has played an important role in getting this deal off the ground. And here's to us working together to redevelop the most luxurious hotel Vegas has ever seen." He finished and then moved his glass forward to the centre of the round table so that he could clink glasses with everyone, his eyes still completely fixated on Haley, and hers on his. He watched as she pulled her glass back into her body and licked her lips with her tongue, before raising the glass to her mouth and taking a delicate sip. He smirked at her as he brought his own glass to his lips, wondering once again why he was so completely enthralled by her, wondering why she seemed to have such a hold on him, but equally knowing that he wouldn't ever have it any other way.

Haley smiled over at Nathan as she lowered her glass back down to the table, running her finger around the rim of it, unable to take her eyes off him. She watched as he continued to look at her intently, and she felt rather powerful in that moment, knowing that he was hers. She hadn't thought of Lucas' words to her ever since she had made the conscious decision not to tell Nathan about the whole Tom debacle a couple of days ago, and despite the long days, which she had enjoyed immensely, it was the nights she had spent here with Nathan that she would treasure, some truly wonderful memories had been created here. She thought back to the nights she had spent, wrapped up in him as they enjoyed each other's company without any worries, it had been incredibly blissful, and she picked up her glass and took another sip of her drink, completely lost in her happy thoughts.

Nathan couldn't help but marvel over the fact that she was still here with him. He had known, of course, how nervous she had been about Lucas finding out, but his brother unveiling the truth about their escapades had seemed to shift something in their relationship, he could practically feel the difference in their trust and love for each other. He had never felt so strongly about anyone before, never being in a relationship where his feelings ran so deep, and he couldn't help but feel like it was all going too well. He hadn't been able to hold on to a relationship with a woman for very long before, and the dark thoughts of dread suddenly entered his mind, reminding him that not everything in life was perfect, and that you had to work hard to get what you wanted. He, of course, knew this; Scott Investment Management hadn't been built on the philosophy of a slacker, far from it in fact. He tried to push those unwelcome thoughts out of his mind and enjoy the moment, but now they were there, he couldn't seem to dispel them. What exactly was he waiting for? Did he really think that something would go wrong with Haley?

Haley didn't know why, but there really was something about watching Nathan work, about watching him interact with men of power and wealth which had her completely weak in the knees. She sipped on her champagne and watched as that deliciously sexy grin spread across his face and she had to look away from him, because she could feel herself getting incredibly turned on, the wetness in her panties was more than enough proof of that, and they still had a full dinner to get through, as well as drinks afterwards no doubt which she found to be incredibly tiresome when all she wanted to do was make her excuses for herself and Nathan and head back to their suite. She ran her eyes over his face before dropping them to his body, taking in the sight of him dressed in his black suit and blue shirt, which brought the colour of his eyes out beautifully. God she really was one very lucky woman...

"So is this your first time in Vegas, Haley?"

Haley turned around to her left and found Paul, one of Mr Felton's employees looking at her. She smiled at him as she placed her champagne glass down on the table and then placed her hands in her lap. "Yes it is my first time in Vegas." She responded. "Have you been here before?" She asked politely, knowing that even though she was at a dinner, she was still representing Scott Investment Management and therefore she couldn't very well just ignore Paul and drink Nathan in like she wanted to...

"Oh no, I've been to Vegas loads of times before. What do you think of it?" Paul asked as he took another sip of his champagne, and ran his eyes briefly down Haley's body, appreciating the tight midnight blue halter neck dress that she had on, before raising his eyes back up to her face.

Haley had picked up her glass of champagne again and was playing with the glass as she held it, her fingers running up and down the delicate stem of the glass. "It seems like it's a lot of fun, although I haven't really had that much of a chance to venture too far." She replied regretfully, because she had really wanted to see more of Vegas than she'd managed to. Maybe she could persuade Nathan to take her here for a weekend sometime...

"Yeah the hours this week have been slightly brutal, haven't they?" Paul responded with a smile. "It's a shame we haven't had much downtime, Vegas is like a grownups playground, I don't think anyone could ever get bored here."

"I can see that too. There are so many shows here that I would love to see." Haley replied.

Paul smiled at Haley again and watched as she smiled back at him, pleased that she seemed to be enjoying the conversation they were having. "So you live in New York?"

"I do, I absolutely love the city, like here, there's always something to do, always something to keep you entertained. I presume you're from New York too?" Haley responded.

"Oh no, I actually live and work in San Francisco." Paul replied as the waiter delivered their appetisers, and he tucked into some smoked salmon.

"Oh really?" Haley said, surprised to find out this piece of information as she picked up her knife and fork and began to eat the scallops she had ordered. "I thought you'd all be from the New York office."

"Half of us are, half of us are based in San Francisco." Paul said. "The investment side of the business is in New York, the design and development side is based in San Francisco."

"And you're…?" Haley asked once she had swallowed some of her scallop.

"I'm a designer, so I'm here to suss out what kind of theme we want the hotel to have and come up with a bunch of computer based designs to run past everyone." Paul explained.

"So you must be creative then?" Haley said.

"Well, I guess so." Paul returned with a smile.

"I wish I could draw, I don't think I have a creative bone in my body." Haley responded wistfully.

"I'm sure you can draw…" Paul replied.

"Oh no, seriously, the last time I played Pictionary, I tried to draw a cow and… honestly, you should have heard what people were shouting out at me." Haley replied with a shake of her head and she giggled at the memory.

Nathan kept his eye on Haley for the whole meal, watching as Paul practically salivated over her. He could feel himself becoming incredibly agitated with her. Why was she spending the whole meal talking and giggling with another man? He could feel the jealously and spite rush through him in a possessive wave which was quite overwhelming. He was shuffling around in his seat, unable to keep himself still, wishing that she would pull her damn dress up and cover herself so that pricks like Paul couldn't see what should only be reserved for his eyes, and his eyes only. The green-eyed monster was out in full force, the anger he felt towards her for acting like this was only getting stronger, and he was unsure as to what it would take for it to subside. He was engaging in conversation with Mr Felton and Mike, who were sat on either side of him but he wasn't concentrating on what they were saying to him, having to ask them to repeat their questions constantly, because all his mind could process was the need to get Haley away from Paul and into his arms as quickly as was possible.

"Shall we head into the bar?" Mr Felton questioned once the table had been completely cleared. He watched as people stood up from the table and headed into the bar, except for Nathan, who was glaring at something. He shook his head in confusion, wondering what had ruffled his feathers before he called the waiter's attention. "Could you please put this meal and the drinks tab on room 5287, please?" He asked.

Nathan immediately shook himself out of his jealous haze and turned to Mr Felton. "I'll pick this meal up." He said in a commanding voice.

"There's really no need." Mr Felton responded, smiling at Nathan kindly but not liking the fact that they were arguing about this.

"No, I'd like to." Nathan responded, knowing that this was a battle of the businessmen, and in all reality, he should concede, but he didn't want to. It seemed that he didn't have control over his girlfriend this evening, given that she was still completely wrapped up in conversation with Paul, giggling like a school girl at him, so he wanted to pay for this meal. It was a case of wounded pride for him.

Mr Felton looked at Nathan and could see the determination in his eyes and he sighed heavily, not wanting to ruin a good working week with petty arguments over whose business was going to pay for a meal. "Fine." He said as he stood up. "Thank you Nathan." He said curtly.

Nathan gave the waiter his room number and then followed Mr Felton into the bar, and wasn't at all surprised to find Haley standing at the bar, only this time she wasn't just with Paul, she was surrounded by pretty much all of the men who had been sitting at the table, minus Mr Felton who was standing off to the side, having just ordered himself a scotch. Nathan scowled at the situation before him and went and joined Mr Felton, ordering himself a scotch also. He remained in complete silence, absolutely reeling about the fact that Haley was completely ignoring him and was instead basking in another, well in fact more than one, man's attention. The bartender placed his drink down in front of him and Nathan picked it up immediately, swirling the liquid around in the glass a few times before taking a rather large gulp.

Mr Felton raised his eyebrows once again at Nathan and then followed his gaze over to Haley. He frowned as he glanced between the both of them, instantly recognising the look on Nathan's face as complete and utter jealousy and he chuckled to himself as he finally put two and two together. He sipped on his scotch, before leaning into Nathan's ear. "She's quite something, that Haley, isn't she?"

Nathan moved his penetrating glare away from Haley, who wasn't taking any notice of him anyway given that she was so wrapped up with all the men she was talking to and settled his eyes on Mr Felton, who was looking far too innocently at him for his liking. He could feel the possessiveness he felt towards her build up inside of him and he had to take a couple of seconds to calm himself down. "And what do you mean by that?" He asked through clenched teeth.

Mr Felton simply drank the remaining scotch from his glass and then casually placed it down on the bar in front of him. He raised his eyebrow at Nathan in a knowing way and then turned on his heel and walked out of the bar.

Nathan watched in confusion and anger as Mr Felton simply just left him there, not having a clue about what he was going on about. Yes he knew that Haley was 'quite something' as he had put it, and so did everyone else it seemed. He glared back over at her, his eyes running over her body possessively, taking in how much of her back was exposed by the low drop of her dress, meaning that she couldn't wear a bra, his eyes skimming over her ass and down the length of the dark material until he got to the floor. He then turned his eyes on the men who were surrounding her, noticing that some of them were touching her arm while they told her a story which she couldn't seem to stop giggling at. He knew that he should be pleased that she was making connections, after all, that was half the battle in business, but he really didn't like the way these men were going about trying to win her affections. He clenched his hand around his glass of scotch as he continued to glower at them all, willing himself to remain calm, willing himself to comprehend that she was simply enjoying herself, pleading with his body to calm itself down. But as he watched Paul hand her another glass of champagne and held her hand as he helped her onto the barstool which had just become free, he knew that he had simply seen enough.

Haley took Paul's outstretched hand and leaned on it for support as she placed herself up on the high barstool and then let go off his hand as soon as she was seated. She smiled over at Paul and took another sip of her glass of champagne. She wondered briefly where Nathan had got to, but seeing as she hadn't seen Mr Felton around either, she guessed that he was locked in some confidential, important business discussions. She felt rather pleased with herself at the moment, being able to charm these men that she had been working with all week, they all seemed to be interested in what she had to say, listening to her opinions, and hanging onto her every word. She noticed that a couple of the men were muttering about moving on to another bar, which she obviously had no interest of doing, not when she was waiting for Nathan to take her back up to their room.

"So what do you say, Haley, do you fancy it?" Mike asked with a hopeful expression on his face.

"Oh I really don't think I should." Haley responded, well aware of the fact that Nathan had to be around here somewhere, and she knew how worried he would be if she were to simply not be here whenever he decided to come back, plus he was looking far too sexy tonight for her to even think about resisting him...

"Come on, it'll be a laugh!" James chipped in as he finished the rest of his drink. "What have you got to wait around here for?"

Haley could feel herself blushing, because she had plenty to wait around here for, her boyfriend in fact. But she didn't feel right talking about her and Nathan's intimate relationship with business contacts; she didn't feel like that would be at all professional of her in the slightest. So she took a sip of her champagne as she tried to think up an appropriate excuse. "Well I need to catch up with Nathan before I call it a night; he had some things he wanted to run over with me before tomorrow." She said.

"Well that's too bad." James said as he placed his now empty glass on the bar behind Haley, skimming his arm against the side of her body as he did so. "Are you coming, Paul?"

Paul glanced over at Haley, not really wanting to leave her alone, and besides, if Nathan didn't show up then he'd have the perfect opportunity to see if she'd be interested in spending the night with him, he knew exactly how long Mr Felton could ramble on and on... "I think I'll stay and keep Haley company." He responded as he smiled over at Haley.

"Oh please don't stay on my account; I'm sure I can find something to occupy myself with." Haley responded, protesting over his words.

"It's no bother; I quite enjoy talking to you anyway." Paul replied, before he turned and tried to grab the bartender's attention in order to get himself and Haley some more drinks.

Haley sipped on the last of her champagne and then placed her now empty glass down on the bar beside where she was sitting. She then sucked in a sharp breath when she felt someone's hand land on her bare back, which caused a shiver to run right up her spine. She calmed down instantly when she recognized the aftershave she could smell as being that of Nathan's, and she smiled to herself when she felt him lean down towards her ear, wondering what he going to say to her as she licked her lips, tasting the champagne she had just drunk while her whole body tingled with anticipation.

Nathan was absolutely seething at her by now. He glanced over at Paul who was standing far too close to her for his liking; his leg was touching her own which was absolutely inexcusable as far as he was concerned, especially seeing as they were currently at what was essentially a work function. He knew he needed to calm down slightly, the alcohol they had all consumed this evening was doing nothing to help his mood, but even so, he shouldn't have to stand all but twenty feet away from her and watch men completely fawn over her, and hear her laugh like she's enjoying them lavishing their attention on her, should he? He placed his hand on her back and felt Haley gasp at the contact, and he had to fight very hard to resist the temptation of running his fingers up and down her beautiful, silky smooth skin, because despite how good she felt, he was mad at her. "I'm going up to the room." He said in a low voice in her ear, unable to hide the bitterness and jealousy from the tone of his voice. "Enjoy your evening with Paul."

Haley found herself completely confused. What the hell did he mean by that? She had been expecting him to say something sexy and suggestive to her, and instead she got moody and bitter. She frowned as she watched Nathan sulk out of the bar, a shiver running up her spine for the second time, but it wasn't in anticipation this time, it was in trepidation, for she honestly didn't know what had got his back up so much. She watched his retreating form walk away from her and she found herself in a complete daze, not knowing what had happened. She looked down and saw that Paul was trying to hand her the drink he had just ordered for her but she pushed it back towards him. "Sorry, Paul, I need to go." She said as she jumped off the barstool and ran across the bar to the exit, following in the same direction that Nathan had stalked out of the room.

Nathan punched the button which was supposed to call the elevator repeatedly, willing it to hurry up. The elevator finally arrived and he stepped inside, pressing the button on the panel for the floor which housed the suite. He then pressed the button which closed the door; still absolutely reeling about the way those men had been all over Haley this evening. He ran a hand through his hair as he attempted to calm himself down, hoping that once he got back to the hotel room he'd have a chance to process what had happened and then wouldn't be so angry at Haley by the time she came up to the room, that is, if she was going to come up to the room at all this evening. The doors were almost closed and he breathed a sigh of relief that no one had joined him in the elevator, for he really did just want to be on his own, when a blue, high heeled shoe appeared in between the closing doors, meaning that they didn't close and instead opened. He growled to himself in frustration, knowing that the shoe he had just seen belonged to the very person he had just been running away from.

Haley walked into the elevator and stood on the opposite side of the confined space to where Nathan was standing, folding her arms protectively around herself as she didn't really understand why he had been so bitter with her, nor why he had chosen to simply leave her there on her own. She glared at him, surprised by the intensity of the look he was currently throwing at her, and she jumped slightly when the elevator doors eventually closed, trapping her in this tight space with a very mad, very angry Nathan. She was actually finding his demeanour rather unnerving, she ran her eyes over his body, quickly appraising his stature, noticing how ragged his breathing was, noticing that his hands were clenched in fists at his side, noticing just how intimidating and scary he seemed at the moment. She felt like cowering in his presence but as she raised her eyes back up to his face, she knew she needed to ask him what was wrong. His actions in the past two minutes had caused her to become extremely pissed off at him. "What the hell was that, Nathan?" She asked, the fire burning deep inside of her clearly evident in the tone of her voice.

Nathan couldn't help but scoff at her; she wasn't serious, was she? "I think I could ask you the damn same question, Haley." He spat at her, the venom he felt towards her in that moment marring his words, making them sound almost deadly.

"And what do you mean by that?" Haley shouted back at him. As far as she was concerned, she had done nothing wrong. She had talked to a few of Mr Felton's associates while he was off doing goodness knows what. She really couldn't see where the crime had been committed in her behaviour.

Nathan had to breathe in deeply for a few seconds to calm himself down, only his plan didn't work as he thought back to the way she had behaved that evening and found himself becoming even worse than he had been before, now that he knew that they were essentially trapped in this space with each other for the next minute or so. "You've been acting like a complete whore ever since Paul started to talk to you at dinner." Nathan said in a snide voice.

Haley threw Nathan an incredibly dirty look when she heard the words he had used to describe her. "How fucking dare you say something like that to me." She seethed at him, shocked almost at what he had just called her.

"No, Haley, how fucking dare you act like that when I'm supposed to be your boyfriend." Nathan retorted, clenching his fists even tighter than he had been doing previously, wanting to unleash his anger on something.

"What did I do wrong, Nathan?" Haley shrieked at him. "All I did was chat to some people while you were off with Mr Felton." She said incredulously, hoping that he would see that he was making a complete mountain out of what was barely even a molehill.

"You weren't just chatting to them, Haley; you were flirting outrageously with all of them." Nathan accused. "I mean honestly, Haley, I had been impressed with your business prowess this week, but if you think that is the appropriate behaviour then you still have a lot to learn."

Haley was completely outraged. "Don't you lecture me on business etiquette Nathan, and don't you dare patronize me." She hissed at him, folding her arms even tighter around herself, trying to protect herself from Nathan's attack. She hadn't done anything wrong, and she kept telling herself this repeatedly.

Nathan shook his head at her. "I'll do what I…" He started and then abruptly shut his mouth when he felt the elevator slow to a halt and then the doors opened. He glanced at the panel above the door, seeing that they had stopped on the way up to their floor, and he couldn't work out if he was glad for the respite or whether he wanted to shout at the man who had just entered the elevator to back the fuck away and wait for the next one. He glared over at Haley, fists still clenched at his sides as the man pressed the button for a couple of floors up and stood between them, all the while wondering why he couldn't have taken the damn stairs. He watched in the mirror behind Haley as the man glanced over at her and rested his eyes on her cleavage. He gritted his teeth together, trying desperately hard to control his breathing and his rapidly beating heart and counted to five, but when the man didn't move his eyes away he completely lost it. He lunged forwards and pushed the man back against the wall, grabbing a fistful of the t-shirt he was wearing, ensuring that he was getting right in his face. "Don't fucking leer over my girlfriend like that." Nathan spat at the man.

Haley didn't know what the hell was happening; she had been too busy glaring at Nathan to even really notice that the man had been looking at her. She watched in horror as Nathan pushed the man up against the back wall of the small space they were currently trapped in and wondered what he was doing. "Nathan!" She shouted, hoping that she would get his attention. She couldn't take her eyes off him, wondering why he was in such an angry mood, and she tried to grab a hold of his arm to pull him away from this man but he simply shook her off him.

"Haley. Don't touch me right now." Nathan said sternly in an extremely dangerous voice as he shook Haley's hand away from himself. He didn't know what he was doing; he just knew that he was incredibly angry at the moment and the man was currently bearing the brunt of his rage. "You need to learn some manners." He said as he gripped onto the man's t-shirt even tighter and lifted the punk up off the ground slightly.

Haley was in a complete panic. She turned towards the panel and thought about pressing the alarm button, but she didn't know what the hell would happen if she did, and she didn't really want to do anything that would cause the elevator to halt in its ascent because she was sure that Nathan would actually start to hurt this man properly if that were the case. Luckily, she felt the elevator begin to slow, and she glanced quickly up at the monitor and saw that they were nearing the floor which their suite was on. The elevator then came to a stop and the doors opened. She grabbed onto Nathan's arm again, this time ensuring that she had a stronger grip on him and tried to pull him away, but he didn't seem to want to go anywhere. "Come on, Nathan, this is our floor." She commanded, hoping that he would listen to her and leave this poor man alone.

Nathan heard the chime of the elevator as the doors opened and it seemed to wake him up from his crazed mood. He felt Haley tug on his arm and tell him that they had arrived on their floor, and he allowed her to pull him away from this man. The fury was still very much running through his veins, he desperately wanted to unleash his anger on something but he knew that punching this guy wouldn't do himself any favours and would only make him feel better for a brief second or so. "You're lucky." He said as Haley dragged him out of the elevator, and he watched as the man visibly relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. The elevator doors began to close, and he continued to glare at the man until the metal doors prevented him from seeing him any longer. He then realised that Haley was still yanking his arm down the corridor and so he shook his arm free, not wanting to be touching her at the moment. "Get off me, Haley." He said and then proceeded to march down the corridor to their suite at a super fast pace.

Haley shook her head at him as she watched him practically run down the corridor to their room. She decided that the hallway was not the appropriate place to question and rage about his behaviour, instead deciding to reserve all that for when they were safely locked away in their room. She followed after him and watched as he grabbed the key card from his back pocket and then opened the door, walking inside their room, not bothering to hold the door open for her to walk through too. She jumped as she heard the slam echo towards her and she rummaged around in her own handbag to find her copy of the room key. She was absolutely furious with the way he had behaved this evening towards her and she sighed heavily to herself as she placed her key in the reader and then opened the door before she walked inside, finding Nathan pacing in front of the window in the lounge area having removed his suit jacket which had been thrown on the floor. She closed the door behind her and marched into the room, finding that any resolve she'd had to try to remain calm had inevitably been completely forgotten about as she took in how angry he seemed, which she couldn't believe he had the audacity to feel towards her at the moment.

Nathan was pacing because he was hoping that in doing so he'd find the right words to articulate how he was feeling, but all he could feel at the moment was anger towards her. He felt like screaming at her, just so that she could understand how frustrated he was with her. With all the thoughts he'd been having earlier about waiting for something to go wrong in this seemingly perfect relationship, watching those men fall over themselves to grab her attention had caused him to completely lose it. And he wanted to tell her this, but he didn't want to show how vulnerable he was, he was used to being a man of power, and right now, relinquishing some of that control to this woman who could very well be snatched from underneath his nose didn't seem like the best of plans. So the resentment towards her behaviour continued to bubble away inside of him and eventually he stopped pacing and turned to face Haley. "Do you mind explaining to me why you thought flirting with those men was a good idea?" He asked in a deadly voice.

"I was not flirting with anybody, Nathan, I was talking to people. I mean for goodness sake, where the hell were you when we left the table? What did you expect me to do? Ignore everybody and sit patiently in a dark corner while I waited until you had finished doing whatever the hell it was you were doing?" Haley asked, completely bewildered by the strength of his attack on her as she wondered where on earth all this anger had come from? Everything had been going so well between them since Lucas had left and now it seemed like the tide was turning on their relationship once again, dragging them back to the days of insecurity and unrest.

Nathan had to scoff at her words. "Haley, I saw you, you were allowing those men to be all over you, how on earth can you think that is appropriate behaviour for what was a business evening, let alone appropriate behaviour for someone who has a boyfriend. I mean seriously, if that's how you behave when I'm not around then we need to have a serious discussion about this relationship because I will not have you acting that way. Do I make myself clear?" He shouted at her while he held his shaking fists at his sides.

Haley was rather taken aback by the volume of his voice, but his fury towards her only spurred on her own. "There was nothing inappropriate about my behaviour, Nathan; I can assure you that I remained professional at all times. But I cannot control the behaviour of those around me, and neither can you. So drop the control-freak act okay, because I can tell you now, that if this is what you're really like, then this relationship will not be going anywhere. I will not be told what to do by anybody." She yelled back at him, crossing her arms over her chest in defiance.

Nathan ran one of his hands through his hair as he allowed her words to sink in. The whole night had been a complete disaster; the alcohol was muddling his thoughts and allowing his insecurities to get the better of him. "So you want to end this, is that what you're saying?" He returned, trying to decipher what her seemingly cryptic message to him meant.

Haley shook her head incredulously at him. "No, Nathan, I don't want this relationship to end, what I want to end is this outrageous behaviour of yours! I don't understand why you acted how you did, especially with that man in the elevator, that was completely uncalled for. What's going on?" She asked, really wanting to get to the bottom of this. "Why are you acting so possessively all of a sudden?"

Nathan knew that he had two choices here, he could continue on his tirade, continue to berate her over her behaviour this evening, but in all honesty, he knew deep down that she was right, it wasn't her flirting with the men, it was the men flirting with her. He knew that all she had said was true, that on reflection, his possessive behaviour had been completely out of line. He sighed deeply, deciding to be honest with her, because if he didn't voice his concerns, he knew that they would continue to eat away at him, and besides, they were supposed to be in a proper relationship, they were supposed to trust and love each other, and if he couldn't be honest with her, then what chance did they have at making this succeed? He looked down at the floor, before he raised his eyes to Haley and felt the vulnerability creep along his veins, mixing in with all the anger he had been feeling before completely taking over his entire being. He hated being this way, he hated feeling weak but he knew he needed to do this. "I just…" He started and then breathed in deeply as he continued to look intently at Haley. "I just feel like someone's going to take you away from me… I feel like this is all too perfect and something's going to happen to change it all, change us, and make you think that you don't want me anymore."

Haley's harsh demeanour instantly softened as she heard his words and she walked swiftly over to where he was standing, seeing that his eyes had dropped to the floor. She shook her head at him as she placed her finger underneath his chin and raised his eyes until they met with hers and she watched as he looked away from her again. "Hey." She said softly. "Look at me, Nathan." She asked and then waited until his eyes rested on her again. "How can you think something so stupid? Don't you understand how deeply my feelings run for you, don't you get how much you mean to me, how much I love you?" She questioned as she implored him to simply understand what she was saying to him while she searched his eyes for that clarity she was waiting for.

Nathan sighed heavily as he continued to look into her deep brown eyes. "Haley, I…" He said as he struggled to find the right words to articulate how he was feeling at the moment, the power of his emotions, of his jealousy and worry had left him completely bewildered. "I've just never felt so strongly about someone before, I've never been in a proper relationship, one where I care so very much about the other person, and I just worry that one day you're going to wake up and think that I'm not good enough for you, I just don't really know what I'm doing which is a whole new feeling for me altogether." He admitted as he ran a hand through his hair and sighed to himself.

"Nathan, you have to know that could never happen, and in fact, it's me who worries that you're going to be the one to wonder what you have been doing, wasting all of your time with someone like me." Haley responded. "You are this extremely successful businessman; you can get anything you want and yet amazingly, somehow, you've chosen to be with plain old boring me. I struggle to wrap my head around that fact sometimes."

"But Haley, you're beautiful and quite honestly any man who is able to call you their girlfriend is an incredibly privileged one." Nathan replied. "I just wonder whether I deserve you."

Haley couldn't help but wonder where all this insecurity stemmed from. "Why do you think like that? How could you ever question the fact that you deserve me?" She asked, knowing that in fact it was she who didn't deserve him. He really was one of the most successful men she had ever met in her entire life, he could have anything he ever wanted, and yet he had chosen to be with her. With all that she was keeping from him about Tom, she almost felt as if she was waiting for him to wake up and smell the coffee, as it were. She was waiting for him to realise that he didn't have to deal with all her problems, that he could go out and find himself someone who didn't have all this baggage hanging around their neck, he could find himself someone nice and simple, who wouldn't cause him any trouble at all. But she was being selfish, she didn't want him to find someone else, she wanted to be with him, and so she was keeping him in the dark.

"I've put my work first since the day I left college, Hales. I've pushed women aside ever since I started working, knowing that what I wanted was to be successful. I just worry that I won't be able to devote enough time to you, that when things start to get really busy at work once year end begins and that you'll end up getting bored with me, and want to find something, or rather someone to fill up your time. I worry that you'll end up resenting me and won't want to be with me in the long term, and I don't know how to fix that. I don't want to lose you to someone else, I don't want work to come between us but I have a responsibility, not just to myself but to everyone who works for me, including you, to ensure that I do my best there. It's always come first, Hales…" Nathan said.

Haley couldn't listen to him jabber on about that for a second longer. "Nathan, why are you creating a problem between us that doesn't even exist? I completely understand that the Company has to come first, of course it does and I would hope that I would never stand in the way of that. And as for your fears about me finding someone else, they are completely unfounded, I've already told you, you are all I could ever want, all I could ever need, and I just wish that you would believe me when I told you that." She responded, ensuring that she maintained eye contact with him the whole time so that he could see just how much she meant what she was saying.

Nathan closed his eyes as he tried to allow Haley's words to wipe away his fears, but they were being stubborn and were sticking in his brain. He was so torn, he didn't want to hurt her down the line, he couldn't bear it if she ended up hating him, he'd seen it happen far too many times with his business contacts, their careers end up completely engulfing their lives, leaving the wife at home with children, bored, depressed and lonely and he just didn't want that to ever happen to Haley, he didn't ever want to be the person that sucked all of her exuberance and life out of her, he didn't think he would be able to live with himself if that were the case.

"Nathan, please stop beating yourself up over this. You're creating the most ridiculous scenarios in your head and you're allowing your nightmares to become a reality, when the problems aren't even real." Haley said, desperately hoping that he would come to realise that she was right and that he was talking absolute nonsense. "And don't you forget about how determined and stubborn I can be too, I'll be sure to tell you if I ever think you're not paying me enough attention." She said with a smile, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Nathan's mouth twist into a grin.

Nathan shook his head at her and tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. "Oh I most certainly do know that." He said with a smile and then rested his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry about how I acted earlier." He said as he closed his eyes and reprimanded himself severely for his behaviour. "It was completely unacceptable of me to say those things and do what I did. I was just so twisted with jealousy. It's completely true what they say isn't it, it really is the ugliest emotion."

Haley could feel the relief finally wash over completely as she realised that things were finally back to normal between them both. She wrapped both of her arms around his neck and pulled his head down towards hers, placing a kiss right in the corner of his mouth. "I don't think there could ever be anything ugly about you." She whispered as her lips hovered above his mouth.

Nathan chuckled as he opened his eyes and ran them over her beautiful face, taking in each and every one of her features. "I take it I'm forgiven then?" He whispered back to her as he stared into her eyes.

"Oh no, you're not forgiven at all." Haley said in a sexy voice as she wrapped her arms together tightly at the base of his neck and pulled his mouth down onto hers, moving her lips over his as her hands travelled into his hair, twisting and tugging on it. She ran her tongue over his bottom lip and heard him groan when her tongue entered his mouth and began to tangle with his. She felt his hands wrap around her waist and move up and down her back, pushing her body into his. She could feel his arousal pressing into her stomach and she couldn't help but moan and arch her body into his, never feeling like she could get close enough to him. She pulled away from his mouth and placed a series of kisses along his jaw until she got to his ear, grabbing his earlobe between her teeth and tugging lightly on it before she released it. "I think you have a hell of a lot of making up to do with me." She whispered in his ear.

Nathan moved both of his hands down to her ass and pushed her body into him, despite the fact that she couldn't get much closer even though he wanted her to. He pulled his head away from her and gave her his signature cheeky smirk. "Is that so?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Haley ran her nails down his scalp until she got to the base of his neck and began to play with his hair, running it through her fingertips. She bit down on her lip as she looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes, her breathing suddenly becoming very heavy and laboured. "Uh huh…" She said and then ran her tongue over her lips as she closed the distance between them and kissed him on the lips again, gripping his bottom lip between her teeth and pulling on it before letting go. "I think you'd better start now." She whispered as she looked him in the eyes.

Nathan moved his hands further down her body and lifted her off the floor, feeling Haley's legs wrap automatically around his waist. He then walked them into the bedroom before he threw Haley down on the bed, and then began to unbutton the shirt he was wearing. He kept his eyes completely focussed on Haley's, whose own were following the movements of his hands, which were now pulling his trousers and boxers down his body. He kicked his shoes and the remaining clothes off his body and then crawled onto the bed with Haley underneath him. "I think I'd better start now too." He said as he lowered his mouth onto hers and began to peel that gorgeous dress off her body.

~*~

Haley snuggled into Nathan's side as he slept in the first class section of the plane and she sighed to herself as her mind continued to run at a thousand miles per hour. She was feeling nervous about absolutely everything that awaited her in New York; Tom, Lucas, getting back into the swing of things in the office, but most of all she was worried about what Nathan's expectations were of their relationship now that they had supposedly revealed their relationship, or rather been found out. She was surprised at how easy it had been to disregard the importance and magnitude of what she had to deal with once they arrived back home while she had been in Vegas with Nathan, and now, suddenly, as they made their way back towards New York, the reality of the whole situation was hitting her right in the face, and it completely unsettled her.

Haley ran her hand down Nathan's chest and gripped onto the material of his polo shirt as she twisted her head into his body and inhaled his scent, drawing a small amount of comfort from the familiarity of it all. She felt safe in the confines of the airplane, as she lay wrapped up in his arms but she knew what was waiting for her once she walked off the plane, she knew what she had to deal with and she couldn't help but feel that her decision to not tell Nathan about Tom had been the wrong one. It was weighing incredibly heavily on her mind; the secrets she was keeping from the man that she loved were clinging onto her shoulders and wouldn't be shaken off no matter how hard she tried, instead shrouding her with feelings of just being incredibly dishonest and that thought then proceeded to fill her with guilt. Didn't Nathan deserve to know the truth?

She sighed again to herself as the familiar counter argument entered her head. Whether Nathan deserved to know the truth or not, would he even want to know? She felt that by now it was an age old argument she had with herself, and she was getting sick of questioning her decisions all the time but she just couldn't help it. She curled her legs up and adjusted her position as she tried to get into a more comfortable spot, but it seemed that her thoughts and worries were preventing her from being able to relax.

She didn't know how much time had passed of their five or so hour flight. She felt like she was in a vacuum, in a place where time didn't even matter; for all she knew they could have been on this flight for just five minutes, or they could be just about ready to land in New York. She prayed to herself that it wasn't the latter, because she wasn't quite ready to deal with being back in New York just yet, but how much time did she really need? Wasn't she just delaying the inevitable?

She moved her head again and rested it on top of Nathan's heart as she fanned out her hand beside her head on his chest, hoping that the steady thumping of his heart would help her to regain some sort of clarity, help her either change her mind or accept her decision without ever feeling the need to question herself again. She sighed once more as she closed her eyes, suddenly feeling absolutely exhausted.

"Baby, what's wrong?" Nathan asked as he rubbed his hand over the top of her arm, his voice thick with sleep. He had been dozing, unable to sleep properly because Haley had been fidgeting constantly since they had got into the air and were able to unfasten their seatbelts.

Haley was surprised to hear Nathan speak to her, as she had thought that he had been asleep and suddenly she felt really bad that she had woken him; the least she could do at the moment was remain still and allow him some rest. "Nothing's wrong." She murmured back to him.

"Well just relax and get some sleep then." Nathan muttered back to her softly as he squeezed her arm with his hand and pulled her in closer to him, not bothering to open his eyes as he wished to fall into a nice, deep sleep once Haley stopped moving about so much.

_If only it were that easy. _Haley thought to herself.

~*~

All too quickly, Haley found herself in the back of a taxi, heading back over the bridge towards Manhattan. She closed her eyes, hoping that if she couldn't see where she was, that she would be able to calm down a little and regain some of the peace and serenity she and Nathan had found in Vegas, only it didn't seem to be working. She knew that she had a plethora of problems and demons to face now that she was back home, but all she wanted to do was remain in the bubble she had created with Nathan, wanting nothing to burst the happiness she felt whenever she was near him.

But she also knew that she couldn't go on hiding forever. She knew that she desperately needed to face Tom, who, according to Lucas, still thought that this wedding was going ahead, despite the fact that she had told him otherwise. She sighed to herself as she pondered how he could be so disillusioned, how he couldn't comprehend that she simply didn't want to be with him at all anymore. Hadn't she already made that point to him, or had he simply chosen not to hear her? She knew that wasn't going to be the easiest of conversations, but as she opened her eyes and glanced over at Nathan, who was sitting to the left of her, fiddling with his BlackBerry, she knew it was a conversation she needed to have sooner rather than later.

Nathan glanced over his BlackBerry at Haley, who was looking at him with a strange look on her face. "What's on your mind, baby?" He asked as he lowered his phone to his lap and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. The conversation they'd had last night in Vegas had settled most, if not all, of his worries and he felt a thousand times more secure about their relationship.

Haley closed her eyes as she felt Nathan's hand trail down her cheek, and she basked in the feeling of his touch. She opened her eyes again and looked deeply into his own, knowing that there was no man on the planet that she would ever want as much as she wanted him. The depth of her feelings toward him was making her more and more anxious to speak to Tom, for she knew that she wouldn't be able to settle completely until she had set the record straight with him, and made damn sure that he knew nothing was ever going to happen between them again. She wanted to cut all her ties with him completely so that she could focus all of her attention on the man in front of her. "You, you're on my mind." She whispered back to him.

Nathan smiled at her as he stilled his finger which was tracing along her jaw bone, and bent down to place a soft kiss on her lips, which she returned. He moaned as he moved his hand behind her neck, wrapping his finger in her hair and pulling her closer towards him, trying desperately to deepen their kiss. He ran his tongue softly over her bottom lip and just as he slid his tongue into her mouth, he felt the car draw to a halt. He sighed as he pulled away from her, smiling at her as he did so. "I love you." He said as he looked intently into her eyes.

"I love you too." Haley responded, feeling rather disorientated. She then heard the car door open and she took a deep, steadying breath as she stepped out of the car, shivering at the slight breeze and chill there was in the air. She clung onto her handbag as she wrapped her arms around herself before she walked to the trunk of the car, watching as the driver unloaded all their cases.

"Hales, put your handbag on top of the big case and I'll take it inside, can you manage with the smaller one?" Nathan asked as he took her handbag from her grasp and placed it on top of the case he intended to carry.

Haley grabbed the handle to the smaller case, the one she had brought out with her and began to wheel it towards the front door to their apartment. She turned around as she didn't hear Nathan follow behind her and watched as he searched his pockets for some change.

"Hales, do you have any money on you?" Nathan called out to her, realising that he didn't have enough to cover a tip for the driver.

"Yeah, in my purse." Haley responded distractedly as she continued to wheel the suitcase to the front door, battling with the fact that it seemed to want to spend most of its time on its side rather than upright.

Nathan grabbed her purse out of her bag and tried to find some change so that he could tip their taxi driver. He grabbed a couple of dollar bills and then shook it, realising that she had some change in the zipped compartment too. He unzipped it and shook it around as he tried to spot some coins which would help him come up with an acceptable tip, when something shiny caught his attention. He furrowed his brow as he picked up the large diamond ring he had just found and held it up as he inspected it.

He then heard his phone vibrate in his pocket, which managed to bring him out of his musings. He placed the ring back in the purse, zipped it up and threw it disgustedly back into her bag. He thrust the couple of dollar bills he had in his hand towards the taxi driver and waited for him to take them out of his hands. He then answered his ringing phone, trying to listen to the words his secretary was saying to him but his mind had completely turned to jelly, and he couldn't stop thinking about that damn ring and what it all meant… meanwhile all the while those feelings he'd managed to relinquish about losing her began to creep back into his mind, plaguing each and every one of his thoughts.

**AN – Please let me know your thoughts by dropping me a review!**

**A preview will be available as soon as I have it written, just let me know if you want it by mentioning it in a review.**

**I guess all that there's left to say from me is that I hope Father Christmas gets you all exactly what you want for Christmas... :o)**


	23. Chapter 23

**AN – Okay guys, I know it has been so long and I can only apologise for that. For some reason my inspiration for this story was momentarily (well I guess temporarily is probably more apt) lost. I tried to write but in all honesty, nothing was coming out like I wanted and so rather than give you guys something which I'm not happy with, I decided to wait. I do want to thank you all for the lovely reviews and encouraging PM's you've sent my way while you waited patiently for this story to update.**

**And while we're on the subject of stories, I just wanted to let you all know about something very exciting. My friend Rebecca (some of you may read her stories - she's love of escapism on this site) and I have begun a new story which we are writing together. It's called Butterflies and Hurricanes and the prologue is now up! If you want to take a read (we're really excited about the story we've got planned) then just find your way to my profile by clicking on my name at the top of this web page and you'll see it listed on there.**

**And as per usual I want to thank those of you without accounts who left a review for the last chapter, because I couldn't respond to them personally... **Kelly – **I'm so pleased you enjoyed the last chapter and that you're excited to see Nathan confront Haley, hope you enjoy the update! **Haylie – **I'm so glad you were excited about the last update, sorry this took so long but I hope you enjoy reading it! **Keeta – **Hope you got the preview? Glad you're enjoying this story still, and that you guessed Nathan would find the ring! Hope you like this chapter! **Ann – **So pleased you liked the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this update too! **Lauren – **I'm so pleased you enjoy this story and sorry for taking so long to update. Hope you enjoy the update! **Naley 3 – **Glad to hear you're enjoying the story and I hope you like the new chapter! **tlovesnaley2 – **I'm so pleased you enjoyed reading the story and I really hope you like the new chapter!**

**As always, major thanks go to Rebecca and Kristen who do a fabulous job reading through for me before I post the chapter.**

**I hope you guys enjoy the update and thank you once again for being so patient with me, I really appreciate it!**

**And Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it.**

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

Haley was completely confused as to why Nathan was emitting waves of hostility like an earthquake had rumbled deep inside of him. The atmosphere inside the elevator was completely stifling, the air so thick with tension that she was finding it incredibly hard to breath. The ride up to the apartment felt like it was taking an absolute eternity, and when the elevator doors finally opened, she raced out so that she could take a deep breath of some fresh air.

Nathan's mind was racing, what the hell did that ring mean? It couldn't be an engagement ring... but of course it was. He was being an absolute idiot if he thought he could disregard it for something else, he knew that. But, if it was an engagement ring, then it couldn't be Haley's, could it? Because she couldn't be engaged, not after she had told him that she'd left her boyfriend. But then why else would it be in her purse? It's not like you just offer expensive, diamond rings to other people for safekeeping. And if you did, you'd hope that the other person would keep it somewhere other than a purse for crying out loud.

Haley walked around the corner towards the apartment and glanced behind her when she didn't hear the sound of the suitcase rolling on the floor, like she expected. She walked back towards the elevator and watched as the doors began to close, with Nathan still standing inside of it. What the hell was wrong with him? "Nathan?" She called out, and watched as he jolted himself out of his thoughts and then stuck his arm in between the closing doors, meaning that they opened once again. She rolled her eyes and continued to walk towards the front door to the apartment, pleased to hear the sound of Nathan's footsteps and the suitcase behind her this time.

Once Nathan got to the door, he put his key in the lock and opened it, walking inside while rolling the suitcase and Haley's handbag behind him. He was more confused than he'd ever been in his life, because he couldn't seem to add it all together in his head. He didn't really know where he was or what he was doing. He was simply acting on autopilot, his mind racing with thoughts as to what that ring could mean.

Something was obviously wrong with him. Haley had worked that one out herself rather easily. But how his mood could change so drastically from him stepping out of the car and walking inside of the building was a complete mystery to her. She didn't know what the hell had happened, but she assumed it had been the phone call he had received which had caused him to act like this, because she was finding it hard to come up with any other suitable explanation. She closed the door behind her and placed the small bag she was carrying down on the floor. "Is everything okay, Nathan?" She asked curiously, hoping that if something was wrong he'd talk to her about it. She wanted to be able to help him, because it was clearly serious, judging by the way he was acting.

Nathan knew he needed to talk to her rationally about this. He needed to calm himself down because the only explanation that fit was the one which he dreaded to think about. The ring had to be hers. And as much as he wanted to run out of the apartment and just get the hell away from her, he knew he needed to remain strong and stay right here. He took a deep breath and decided to just ask her about it, rather than procrastinate. "What is that ring?" He asked as he rested the suitcase upright and turned himself around to face Haley.

Haley furrowed her brow. Ring? What the hell was he going on about? "What ring?" She asked, clearly not understanding whatever the hell he was asking her. She racked her brains for what he could be referring to but she was completely coming up blank.

"The ring inside your purse. What's it for?" Nathan asked again, wondering how she could act like she didn't know what the hell he was talking about. It clearly wasn't a freeby from a cracker; the damn thing had to mean something to her.

Haley's eyes grew as wide as saucers and she glanced away from Nathan as she realised all too quickly what ring he was going on about. It was the ring she'd carelessly left in her purse, the one she had completely forgotten about. God, how could she have been so stupid, letting him get some change out of the purse when they were outside, how had she not remembered that she'd left the thing inside of it? She felt this surge of anger bubble up inside of her, directed mostly at Tom. Why had he given it to her in the first place? She wanted to blame him for all this mess, because if he'd never asked her, then she wouldn't be in this situation right now. But, then she quickly realised that she had said yes, when she could have just said no. And so, she couldn't really blame Tom for all of this, even though she desperately wanted someone else to shoulder the responsibility. However, she knew that it was her fault for leaving the damn thing in her purse. That had been her decision and hers alone, and in hindsight it had been an incredibly stupid one. But she honestly hadn't known what else to do with it; she wasn't exactly going to wear it on her finger!

"Well?" Nathan asked, after what had to have been far too much silence. He could see the panic in Haley's eyes and it was only making him feel a thousand times worse than he already did. It was like confirmation of what he already knew, despite the fact that he hadn't wanted to believe it, and despite the fact that she hadn't actually verbally confirmed or denied it. But her expression told him everything he needed to know, if he was being honest with himself. However, he wasn't being, and he was holding onto the last shred of hope he had, dangling from the thin rope with complete and utter desperation.

Haley was looking down at the floor, concentrating hard on regulating her breathing. She felt like her entire world was crumbling around her and she could feel all of her surroundings become more and more distant as the seconds ticked on. She heard Nathan speak, jolting her somewhat out of her haze but his voice sounded so far away. This was it, she was finally losing him. After fighting and breaking up with Tom, she was finally losing her entire reason for it all. She bit down on her lip as the tears began to well in her eyes, making her vision incredibly blurry. She still hadn't found the courage to connect her gaze with Nathan's, she couldn't bring herself to see the hurt and confusion she knew would be residing in his beautiful blue eyes. She couldn't take the fact that she was hurting him.

Why wasn't she saying anything? Nathan wanted nothing more than to walk over to her and shake this reasoning out of her. He wanted a damn answer and he couldn't take waiting for it any longer. He could feel the dread, the confusion and the pain rushing through his body, weighing him down, so much so that he felt like his feet were rooted to the spot. He ran an incredibly frustrated hand through his raven black hair and then tested himself by taking a tentative step forwards. For some absurd reason he felt like he was wading through sinking sand. It took a tremendous amount of effort for him to shuffle one of his feet forward, and so eventually he stopped himself from walking any further towards Haley. He could hear the clock from the kitchen ticking on, the noise of it taunting him until he couldn't take the silence any longer. "Haley, what the hell is going on?" He asked, the bewilderment, frustration and fear clearly evident in the tone of his voice.

Haley took a deep, steadying breath in an effort to calm her nerves and chanced a glance up at Nathan. She felt one of her tears drop down her face when she saw just how broken he seemed and she had to look away again. She breathed in once more, only this time it was incredibly shaky and it was only then, as she listened to the sound of her breathing, that she realised her entire body was trembling. She knew that she needed to explain, she knew that it was time for Nathan to know the truth, and so, still looking down at the ground, being cowardly and unable to look at him, she began to explain. "The ring is mine, Nathan..." She began, but she was prevented from going any further because Nathan interrupted her.

"Fuck, Haley!" Nathan roared. He ran his hand through his hair again, only this time his fingers lingered in his locks and pulled sharply on the strands as if he were trying to pull it completely from his head. The anger he felt was bubbling swiftly along his veins, overtaking every single emotion he could possibly feel in that moment. He looked at her, completely disbelieving and exasperated with her, and he didn't know what the hell to do with himself now that she'd told him that the ring was hers. What on earth did that mean? He was so confused because she'd told him that she'd broken up with her boyfriend, so what the hell was she doing with an engagement ring in her purse? "What... I mean... how... God, Haley, what the hell?"

Haley visibly winced as Nathan's loud, booming voice echoed all around the apartment. She felt more tears fall from her eyes and she closed them for a brief moment, allowing him a second for his anger, after all, she deserved to feel his wrath. When he stopped shouting at her, she opened her eyes and looked over at him, seeing him staring at her expectantly, like he was waiting for her to provide him with an answer to all of this. She gulped, because although she knew that she needed to tell him, although she knew that he needed to know the truth, she was still battling with herself, because there was this tiny voice in the back of her head which was telling her to lie to him, purely to save her own skin. She felt sick with guilt as the voice continued to resonate in her mind and she worked hard to push it away, to silence it. She cleared her throat before she began to speak again. "My ex wasn't my ex-boyfriend; he was my ex-fiancé. He asked me to marry him and I was so shocked by it that I found myself somehow saying yes to him. But you have to understand Nathan, that it wasn't what I wanted; I don't even know why I said yes to him in the first place..." She explained, her eyes pleading with Nathan's, begging him to understand where she was coming from.

"But you were engaged? When we started seeing each other?" Nathan asked, really wanting the answer to his question to be a no. He didn't want to hear that she had properly belonged to another man, that she had given herself to someone else while they were building a relationship with each other. It just seemed wrong on so many levels and he felt completely betrayed by her. How could she do this to them? To him? How was he supposed to trust her now?

"Yes." Haley answered honestly, and her face crumpled when she saw Nathan's entire body slump under the weight of her words. She absolutely hated herself in that moment, wishing that she'd just pushed through his disregard when she'd tried to tell him before, wishing that she had fought with him and made him listen to her. She was so angry with herself for waiting for him to find out about it, especially like this, especially when they'd just managed to sort through things and were finally getting their relationship on track. The timing sucked completely and she couldn't feel more frustrated and furious with it all. Wouldn't it have been so much better if she had told him, rather than him finding out for himself?

Nathan couldn't breathe. He tugged on his t-shirt, as if he were trying to free himself, give himself some much needed space for the air to travel down into his lungs. He breathed in and out deeply for a few moments, needing to take the time to try to calm his racing heart, needing a second to gather his thoughts. His head was spinning uncontrollably and he didn't understand what was going on. He had to look away from her because as he continued to stare at her, the pain only seemed to get worse. He wasn't sure what this meant for them now. Just a couple of moments ago, everything was fine, he was buoyed up from the time they had spent together in Vegas and had been really looking forward to starting to build on their relationship at home in New York. But he just didn't know what was happening now, he felt like any control he'd had on his life had just slipped right through his fingers.

Haley hated to see Nathan this way; it was absolutely killing her that she was the cause of all his pain. She bit down on her lip and looked away from him as the events of the past couple of months came back to her. She remembered meeting up with Nathan before work each day in the coffee shop by the office, seeing Tom, Nathan kissing her for the first time, Lucas offering her a place to stay, realising that she was staying in Nathan's home, that horrible moment at the engagement party Tom had thrown for them, breaking up with Tom and finally managed to sort through things with Nathan. It was as these events ran through her head that she realised that she'd been wrong with what she had told Nathan, and given that she was having a moment of honesty with him, she decided to correct herself. "Actually, I got engaged after you kissed me for the first time." She said, amending the earlier answer she had given him.

Nathan turned to look at her with a completely bewildered expression on his face. He didn't know what she was expecting him to do, what he was supposed to say to all of this. His head was a complete mess, and he shook it from side to side a couple of times, trying very hard to clear the hazy fog which had built up inside of it. He then scoffed as he looked at her, really pissed off that she had an expression on her face as if to say that the fact that she'd got engaged after he'd kissed her somehow made it all better. "You think that you getting engaged after we'd kissed makes it okay? Huh? I mean, Jesus fucking Christ Haley, what the hell do you expect me to say?" He said, his voice getting louder and louder with each word which came out of his mouth until he was back to shouting at her again.

Haley felt like she should cower away from him. Her eyes moved over his body and she could see that he was shaking uncontrollably with rage, there was a fire in his eyes, burning harshly as his eyes glared right at her, as if he wished he could scold her from just a look. His hands were now clenched in fists at his sides, and she had to look away from him because he was actually starting to scare her now. But she resolved with herself that she wouldn't walk away and leave, she needed to tell him all of it, no matter how much her brain screamed at her to run. She cautiously brought her eyes back to his body after a few seconds, but any hope of seeing a slightly calmer Nathan were quashed when she saw him still trembling violently. "I.... I... I don't know what I expect you to say Nathan, honestly, I mean, I don't really expect anything. And I don't think that the timing of my engagement makes it all better... honestly I don't..." She stuttered but was saved from saying anymore when he interrupted her again.

"Well good, I'm glad to hear it because in fact the timing of it all makes it worse, Haley, not better!" Nathan fumed. He could feel his body shaking still and he had no idea how he was going to be able to control the anger he was feeling rushing through his veins relentlessly. He decided that standing still wasn't helping and so, taking a deep breath and hoping that his body wouldn't feel as heavy to him as it had done earlier, he took a testing step to the right. He was mildly relieved when he was able to move his legs without much effort, and once he realised this he began to pace up and down in front of Haley, trying desperately to think coherently about all that he had just learned. He was toying with the idea of just running out of this apartment, but he knew that if he did he wasn't sure if he would be able to come back. He knew it was the cowardly thing to do and so he was determined to stay here and talk this crap through with Haley before he made any rash decisions. For once he decided to be rational, and even though he didn't want to admit it to himself in that moment, he knew deep down that the only reason he was choosing to stay was because he loved her so much.

Haley watched as Nathan paced up and down in front of her, and she desperately wanted to reach out to him and stop him for a second. She could see that he was just working himself up more and more, and she knew that it wasn't doing him any good. But she didn't touch him because she didn't know what his reaction would be, she didn't know if he would want her to touch him. She was incredibly terrified of what his reaction would be should she reach out her hand to him, and she didn't want to even think about how she would feel if he moved away from her, or told her to leave him alone. So instead she continued to watch him, wondering if she should say something, wondering what she could say to make him feel better than he did right now because she really didn't like seeing him this way. She was about to open her mouth to say something, she wasn't even sure what it was, she just wanted to fill the uncomfortable silence with something, but Nathan spoke before she could begin to blabber about absolute nonsense.

Nathan stilled his pacing for only a second, just so that he could throw another glare in Haley's direction, before he started up again, his mind working overtime trying to keep up with the thoughts which were racing through his head. "I mean, seriously, Haley, what the hell am I supposed to do with this?" He asked, wanting her to give him an answer because he sure as hell had no idea what he was supposed to be doing or thinking about this, he was just completely puzzled by everything. He felt like his entire world had just shattered, like he'd been knocked completely off kilter and didn't know which way was up anymore.

God, how could he think that she had any answers to that question? He'd stopped his pacing entirely now and was looking right at her. She felt the guilt stirring uncomfortably in her stomach as her eyes ran over his face, taking in his sombre expression. He looked so desolate, so lost and so empty, yet so full of confusion and hurt at the same time. "I…. I… God, Nathan, I really don't know. I just…" She didn't know what the hell to say. What could she say? How could she make him feel any better about all of this?

"You just what, Haley?" Nathan asked completely exasperated with this whole situation now. He was still fighting with himself to stay where he was, still battling with the temptation to just run right out of there, find a relatively quiet bar and drown his sorrows, but then he remembered what had happened the last time he'd done that, and had somehow managed to leave with a bar whore latched onto his arm and the idea suddenly seemed really unappealing to him. He didn't want anyone else. He just wanted Haley, only he wanted the blissful version of her he'd had before, when she'd broken up with her boyfriend, not a fiancé and had promised herself to just him, not someone else.

Haley shook her head and looked away from Nathan, staring down at the floor again. She shuffled on her feet, feeling the uncomfortable glare coming from Nathan, which made her feel even worse than she already did. Eventually, she gathered her resolve and lifted her head, looking him right in the eye. She had to let him know how she felt, she had to make him see that none of what happened before mattered, all that mattered was how she felt now, how much she wanted him, how much she loved him. Surely he knew that? She took a deep breath and could feel the anger resonating off his body, but she tried very hard to concentrate on what she was about to say. "I know I should have told you, and God, Nathan, I tried, but every single time I brought the subject up, you just shied away from it. I…"

Nathan couldn't help the fact that his mouth dropped open. There was no way that she was trying to shift the blame onto him, surely? That was just completely preposterous and utterly ridiculous. He had to interrupt her before she even uttered another word, because there was no way in hell that he was going to let her get away with that. "And do you know why that was, Hales? Do you know why I didn't want to know? It was because I didn't like hearing about you being with anyone else but me. I didn't want to know a thing about that asshole you stayed with for reasons completely unbeknown to me. But that was when I thought he was just some guy. Not someone you'd promised to be with for the rest of your life. I mean, seriously Haley, what the fuck am I supposed to think? I can remember how depressed you were when you were with him, so then why, when I made my feelings for you crystal clear, did you then agree to his proposal? Agree to be his husband for God's sake?" He seethed. God, he actually couldn't remember a time when he felt this angry and hurt and he absolutely hated being this way.

Haley could feel more tears pooling in her eyes, but she knew that she needed to fight for this, she knew that she couldn't just give up because Nathan meant so much to her. "Nathan, he doesn't mean anything to me. I don't even know why I agreed to the proposal in the first place but I was so confused… and I broke it off with him when I realised that I didn't want to be with him, that I couldn't be his wife or even his girlfriend for that matter. It's not him who I want to be with, Nathan, it's you. You are the one that I want, the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with, not someone else." Haley pleaded with him to understand, she didn't want to fight with him. She knew, obviously, that he was angry and upset at her and she didn't want him to stop feeling that way because she knew he had the right to, but she just wanted him to realise that she knew what she wanted and she knew who she wanted to be with. There was no doubt in her mind at all.

Nathan shook his head at Haley as he absorbed her words. He wanted to believe her, but how the hell could he? How could he trust someone who said yes to an engagement when they wanted out of the relationship in the first place? It just didn't make sense to him at all. "That's all very well, Haley, but I still don't get it. I still don't understand what the hell you were thinking when you said yes to him." He sighed heavily and resumed his pacing, hoping that the movement would help him to wrap his mind around all of this.

Haley watched once again as Nathan paced up and down in front of her, her eyes following his every move. "You know what, Nathan, I don't understand why I said yes either. I don't know what the hell I was thinking." She said honestly. She really hoped he understood that she couldn't' give him any more than that. She couldn't even begin to comprehend why she'd said yes to Tom in the first place. It had to have been the most stupid thing she'd ever done in her entire life.

Nathan continued to stare at her, the frustration he felt towards her reaching unbelievable levels. "Well if you weren't thinking then why the hell did you say yes?" He returned, completely not understanding what she was saying to him. How, when accepting a proposal can you not be thinking about things? How can you not be questioning whether you can actually see yourself in a relationship with this person, how can you not be thinking about whether you can see yourself with this person for the rest of your life? Surely that was the first thing which would run through your mind?

God, Haley was finding this conversation absolutely infuriating. She could understand why Nathan was mad at her, of course she could, but searching for answers she honestly didn't have wasn't going to get them anywhere. "I don't know why I said yes, Nathan. But does it honestly really matter why I did? I mean, it happened, I'm not with him anymore and all I want is to be with you. Isn't that what's..." Haley started but she was cut off by the sound of Nathan's phone ringing, the ringtone filling the quiet space of the apartment now that she had stopped talking.

Nathan sighed heavily, knowing that the person on the phone would be his brother, wondering why he wasn't at the office yet. His secretary had called him about fifteen minutes ago, telling him that Lucas was having some kind of crisis and that he needed to get into the office as soon as he could. He didn't even think about answering the phone though, because whatever crisis Lucas was referring to, it could wait. The whole damn company would just have to wait, because he was sure that whatever problem Lucas was having, it was nowhere near as big as the one he was currently dealing with here at home. The ringing phone eventually stopped and he looked over at Haley again, waiting for her to continue.

Haley watched Nathan look over at her once the ringing phone stopped, and she knew that he was just waiting for her to say something. She didn't know what else she could say. She felt like she was waiting on a knife edge and she just wanted some guidance, she just wanted someone to tell her exactly what she should say to make all of these problems go away. But she didn't have anyone who she could ask. This was all her own doing and it was going to be up to her to sort it all out. She took a deep breath and tried again, really hoping that this time she'd get through to him. "I just don't know what to say. I mean I'm really, so sorry for not telling you about this sooner Nathan, and I don't know, I know that it's all my fault. But I don't want to lose you, I can't... you mean so much to me. I love you, so much and I just..." She started, but once again she was interrupted by the ringing of Nathan's phone, the piercing noise once again resounding from his pocket.

Nathan wanted to chuck the damn phone out of the window. He was actually going to kill his brother. He knew that if he didn't pick the call up, then Lucas would only keep on ringing and so he threw Haley a somewhat apologetic look, though he wasn't too sorry because quite frankly he was still so furious with her, and then he reached inside his pocket to grab his noisy phone. He rolled his eyes when he glanced at the caller display and as he had predicted, saw his brother's name flash up on the screen. He didn't apologise to Haley when he pressed the connect button, because he didn't think that she deserved one. "What?" He snapped into the phone once he had brought it up to his ear.

"Nathan, where the hell are you?" Lucas said once his brother had finally picked up his phone. He was really pissed off that he hadn't arrived at the office yet. Didn't he understand the severity of the situation?

"At home." Nathan responded as he ran a hand through his hair. He could tell by the tone of his brother's voice that whatever had happened wasn't just something trivial, it was most definitely something serious. He just wanted to find some sand and bury his head in it. Hadn't he dealt with enough today already?

Lucas sighed in complete frustration at his brother. "Well hurry up and get your ass over here. It's important, Nathan. What the hell are you still doing at home?" He said, wondering why his brother wasn't jumping in a car to get over here. Any other time when they'd been even a hint of a problem, he would be right over at the office as quickly as he could get there, so what the hell was he doing now?

Nathan shook his head, really thinking that it would explode if he had to take any more shit today. He clenched his eyes shut and rested his hand on his forehead. "Fine, I'll be there in fifteen, I'm leaving now." He said and then hung up the phone, placing it back in his pocket.

Haley could feel her eyes filling with tears as she listened to what he was saying to whoever he was on the phone to. He was leaving her here? God, she most definitely didn't want him to leave her, not when everything was so up in the air like it was. She looked away from him as she saw his eyes begin to slowly return to her and concentrated on looking down at the carpet. She had to bite down on her lip in an effort to stop the tears from falling down her face, but it wasn't working and she felt the fat tears begin to roll down her cheeks. She didn't want him to walk out of the apartment, not when she had no idea what was going on with their relationship. She didn't know if things were okay between them or if they weren't, she didn't know if he wanted to be with her still or whether he wanted to finish with her. It was all so unsettling.

Nathan sighed as he left his hand in his pocket where he had just placed his phone. He ran his other hand over his face, as if he were trying to clear the last half an hour or so from his mind. "Er, that was Lucas, I need to go to the office." He said. He really didn't want to leave, not when he didn't feel like anything had been sorted out between them both. He didn't want to leave without them reaching some kind of resolution but he knew that a resolution would take much longer than he could give her right now, especially as he knew that if he wasn't in Lucas' office in fifteen minutes his brother would only keep on calling him until he arrived, which wouldn't be the best way for him to sort through all that he had just learned.

Haley just nodded her head at him, not bothering to lift her head up so that he could see her. She didn't want him to see her crying because she felt rather guilty for shedding tears over it all. What did she have to cry about? She was the one who had kept this huge secret from him, she was the one who had evaded the truth and elected not to tell him that she was engaged. She sniffed once and wrapped her arms around herself as she continued to stare down at the floor, really wishing that he didn't have to go to the office, wishing that he would just stay and tell her that everything was okay.

Nathan frowned when he heard Haley sniff, and he knew without even having to ask that she was crying. Despite all that had happened, he couldn't help but feel this overwhelming need to wrap her up in his arms, to comfort her. He wanted to be able to tell her that everything was going to be okay, he didn't want her to be upset about it all, he wanted to be able to tell her all the things that he knew would stop her from feeling like this. But he also knew that he couldn't lie to her. He couldn't say that he was fine when he clearly wasn't. But even so, he didn't want to leave her alone like this. "Hales." He said in a much softer tone than he'd used with her ever since they'd walked into the apartment. He took a couple of steps towards her but stopped when he saw her retreating away from him. He grew incredibly confused, why was she shielding herself from him?

Haley could feel Nathan walking towards her and she instinctively took some steps backwards, trying to get herself away from him. She heard him say her name, and he didn't sound angry, which although it was a relief to her, she somehow felt that she didn't feel worthy of hearing anything else from him. And as he walked forwards she knew that he was trying to offer her some form of comfort, but she didn't feel like she could take that from him. Not when she wasn't sure of what he thought of her at the moment. She didn't want him to feel sorry for her; she deserved to feel like this. She cursed herself when, as if on autopilot, she reached one of her hands up to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She really didn't want Nathan to see her like this.

Nathan decided to go to her, because he had just seen her wipe her cheeks and so he knew for certain now that she was definitely crying. He continued to walk towards her and saw her begin to turn herself away, but before she could turn around, he grabbed onto one of her wrists and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head as she sobbed into his chest. He felt a thousand emotions rush through his body as he held her, confusion, fear, pain, longing, betrayal, but the strongest emotion, despite all that had happened since they'd got back to the apartment that he felt overtake his body was love. He loved this woman who was crying her heart out in his arms more than anything in the world.

Haley couldn't think of anything as she allowed herself to sob into Nathan's chest. She felt his arms wrap around her back, she could feel his chin resting on top of her head but inside, emotionally, she couldn't make any sense at all of what she was feeling. "Please don't leave me." She kept on repeating this as her shoulders shook violently, making her entire body tremble.

Nathan knew that he needed to get to the office, he knew that Lucas would probably call him in a second to check that he had left, but as he heard Haley mutter quietly to his chest, his heart broke that little bit more. He gently pried her away from his body, his hands on her shoulders, wanting to look at her, but her head was still bowed. He tentatively moved one of his hands and lifted her chin with his fingers until she was looking him in the eyes. He didn't want to tell her that everything was fine when he knew it wasn't. But he wanted to offer her the words he knew he could say in that moment, the words that he knew were true. "I could never leave you."

~*~

Nathan sat in Lucas' office, staring into space as he twiddled his pen between his fingers. He was aware that he was supposed to be listening to the so-called problem that had happened while he had been in the air flying back from Vegas but it just didn't seem to be of any importance to him now. All that mattered to him was his relationship with Haley at the moment.

The shock of her revelation had worn off somewhat and he found that some time away from her had allowed him the chance to actually think about things rationally, to not be clouded by the pure anger and pain which had been residing inside of him when she had first told him of her engagement. He was able to ponder and think about things with a much clearer head. As he thought over his relationship with Haley, he realised that she had been right, that she had tried to tell him about this a number of times and each time she had begun to talk to him, he'd told her that he didn't want to know, that it didn't matter. Wasn't he being a complete hypocrite now with the way that he had acted over it all? And besides, she'd broken up with the dude now anyway, she wanted to be with him, and all that he'd ever wanted was to be with her. So where the hell was the problem? Previously engaged or not, did it really matter? He'd known when he had first got involved with Haley that she had someone else, he'd initiated their relationship so why had he reacted the way that he had?

Lucas looked over at his brother as he waited for his input, only he was swirling that stupid pen of his around his fingers and didn't appear to be listening to a word he was saying. Didn't he understand how much of a serious issue this was? The land which Carly had showed him was absolutely perfect for the new development they were considering, and if they missed out on acquiring the land then the whole project would have to be changed completely. "Nathan? Are you listening or what?" He snapped, seeing his brother jolt out of his haze and flash him a somewhat apologetic glance. He just rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. He knew that he was going to have to repeat himself all over again. "Will you make sure you're listening, please? This is really important."

Nathan felt incredibly sheepish that he had been caught not listening. He put his business hat back on and did his best to push thoughts of Haley and his relationship with her out of his mind. Well, they wouldn't leave entirely but he really did try to push them to the far recesses of his brain and concentrate on what Lucas was saying to him. "I'm sorry bro, just got a lot on my mind at the moment. But I'm all ears now, I promise." He said as he flashed a more sincere look at Lucas, much more apologetic than the first one he had thrown his brother's way. He cleared his throat and sat up straighter in his chair, giving Lucas his full attention. He even put his pen down on the table in front of him to stop himself from playing with it.

Lucas nodded his head at his brother, pleased that he finally had his attention. He cleared his throat and was just about to launch into his speech again, but he was interrupted by Nathan's mobile phone which began to ring from his pocket. He flashed him a look of complete and utter exasperation and annoyance, and watched incredulously as he reached into his pocket as if he was going to answer it. "Are you seriously going to take the call?" He asked, unable to hide the disbelief from his voice.

Nathan gave his brother a very pointed look as he fished his phone out of his pocket. He glanced down at the name which was flashing across the screen, and seeing that it was Haley, he threw another apologetic look in Lucas' direction. "Sorry, Luke, I really need to take this." He said as he pushed himself out of the chair and walked out of the office. He really was sorry, because he knew that he'd spent the last hour or so not listening to a word of what Lucas was saying to him, but quite honestly, he really needed to talk to Haley. He didn't want them to argue with each other, he just wanted them to move past this and get on with their life together. After all, he knew for certain that there was no way in hell that he'd be able to live without her, and he didn't want to either. He loved her, so much, and he really needed to tell her that.

Haley really didn't want to bother Nathan. She knew that he would be incredibly busy with work but she was having all these doubts which were swirling around in her mind. She could feel them weighing her down incredibly and she didn't know what to do. It was getting to the point where she couldn't even see clearly, her entire mind becoming this field full of fog where absolutely nothing made sense. She'd scalded herself every time she had reached for her phone, telling herself that he would come back eventually. But how did she know that he would come back? How did she know that he wouldn't just walk out on her and leave her there? She hated feeling this way but she knew that the only way she'd be able to calm her fears would be if she were to talk to Nathan. So the sixth time she reached for her phone, she gave in to herself and allowed herself to dial his number. She waited with baited breath as the phone rang, she wasn't even sure if he'd pick it up to speak to her. She didn't know what she'd do if it went to voicemail. Somehow that would be even worse than her having not called him at all.

Nathan walked out of the office and pressed the connect button, bringing the phone up to his ear as he answered it. "Hi Haley." He said. He wasn't sure why his voice sounded so strange. Maybe it was because any other time he'd spoken to Haley on the phone, they hadn't been in the middle of a huge argument. He didn't really like the way his voice sounded though. And so he cleared his throat, resolving to try to make his voice sound a little friendlier when he next spoke to her. However, there was a very angry thought which flashed through his mind, asking why the hell he should be friendly to her? He should stay mad and livid at her because after all that she'd done, she deserved that kind of treatment from him, didn't she?

Haley breathed a tremendous sigh of relief when she heard the call connect. She winced slightly at the tone of Nathan's voice, because he still sounded mad at her, but she reasoned with herself that he had every right to stay angry with her for as long as he wanted to. It wasn't up to her to decide when he should forgive her, that was his call. However, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would wait around for as long as that took. She didn't care if it took her entire life for him to forgive her, she would wait for it. She couldn't see herself with anyone else anyway, he was all that she wanted, so she would do whatever it took for things to be right between them again. "Hi Nathan. I'm sorry I called. I shouldn't have called you, should I?" She mumbled and then she rolled her eyes at how anxious she sounded. She hated the fact that she sounded so nervous around him, and she was just about to berate herself for it but then she reminded herself that her feelings were probably warranted given all that she had been through in the last couple of hours.

"No, no, don't worry about it. In fact I'm glad you called." Nathan responded. He breathed in deeply as he walked away from Lucas' office so that he could have some privacy while he talked to Haley.

"You are?" Haley asked, completely surprised by his admission. She thought that he would have been anything but pleased to hear from her. However, his words worked to calm down her nerves somewhat and she even managed a small smile as she sat herself down in the living room on the sofa, curling her legs up underneath her body. She waited for him to speak, but all she could hear was the sound of his long breaths coming through the phone.

Nathan didn't know what to say to her now. It was so easy for him to sit in Lucas' office and go over in his head all that he wanted to say to her when he finally got the chance to speak to her. It had all seemed so simple when he was mulling it over in his mind then, but now that he actually had her on the phone, now that he had his opportunity to say what he wanted, the doubts were beginning to creep into his mind again, reminding him of how angry he had been earlier. It was completely infuriating because he didn't want to feel this way, he just wanted things to go back to some kind of normality with her. He sighed in defeat and just said what was running through his mind in that moment. "I don't want to argue with you, Hales."

Haley bit down on her lip as she fiddled with a strand of her hair. "I don't want to argue with you either." She whispered, closing her eyes for a second in relief before she opened them again, staring around the apartment.

"Good. I just... I mean, there are still some things I think we need to talk about, you know, I don't think things can simply go back to how they were before right away, but I just don't want all the drama. I want us to talk about this properly, no shouting and arguing and all that crap. I just want you to be entirely honest with me. That way we can just deal with it all and move past it, you know?" Nathan said as he walked up and down the narrow corridor he found himself in, aware that he was rambling slightly but given how fast his mind was working he guessed that was to be expected.

"Thank you, Nathan, that's exactly what I want too." Haley returned. She couldn't believe that she was getting this second chance with him, it was more than she ever thought she'd get, more than she'd even hoped to dream about. He truly was amazing. "I agree completely with you, I want to be able to explain it all to you and I don't want to hide things from you anymore. I just want us to be able to move past this and then concentrate on our relationship and our future, not worry about the past."

"Okay, well I need to get back into Lucas' office because he's probably freaking out right about now, but I'll be home soon." He looked at his watch and pondered over how long he thought his impromptu meeting with his brother would last. "I should be home at about sixish, that sound alright?" He asked as he began to walk back to Lucas' office.

"That's fine. I'll go out to the grocery store and pick us up something nice for dinner, seeing as there's nothing in the fridge for us to eat." Haley returned as she hoisted herself up off the sofa. Before she went out she was going to unpack her suitcase and do a load of laundry, and then she'd also tackle Nathan's.

"That sounds perfect." Nathan said with a small smile on his face. It was amazing how a bit of time to sort through his thoughts alone in a rational manner could completely change his perspective on things. And despite knowing that they still had a fair bit to talk through, he felt a thousand times better about their relationship. "I love you, Haley."

Haley could feel the smile spread across her face, her footsteps faltering as she walked towards the hallway where her suitcase was waiting for her. She breathed in deeply, the relief a truly welcome feeling. "I love you too, Nathan, so much." She returned to him.

"I'll be home soon." Nathan said as he pushed open the door to Lucas' office, seeing his brother looking at him with a completely exasperated expression on his face, but he honestly didn't care about what he was thinking in that moment, he'd just have to get over it.

"Okay, I'll see you at six." Haley replied. "Bye."

"Bye, Hales." Nathan responded softly, waiting until he heard Haley disconnect the call before he lowered his mobile from his ear, placed it back in his pocket and then flopped himself back down into the chair he had vacated to talk to her, waiting for Lucas to dive back into whatever fire he needed to extinguish. He watched his brother's mouth move, beginning to explain something about Carly and land... but his mind was wandering back to his gorgeous girlfriend. He was so pleased that they were moving forward with this and weren't allowing the past to consume their future.

~*~

After having picked up some groceries, Haley was walking back to the apartment, feeling a hell of a lot better after her phone conversation with Nathan. She could feel the weight slowly being lifted off her shoulders and, she had to admit it to herself, was rather surprised at how he was reacting to all of this. If she was being honest with herself, she had expected him to just finish with her the instant he found out about the fact that she'd been engaged. She'd been waiting with baited breath for him to run away from the apartment and never come back. But luckily for her, and she did feel like the luckiest girl on the planet, he hadn't done that. He had become very angry and was incredibly upset with her but she understood why. She would have felt the very same way if it had been her who had just received that news about Nathan.

She shifted the bags from one hand to the other, trying to distribute the weight more evenly as she continued walking towards the apartment. She'd picked out the ingredients so that she could make Nathan a really nice meal, a small way she could say sorry for all the crap and a way of starting to make amends for her wrongdoings. She was aware that she still had to tell Nathan about Tom, as in tell him just who she had been engaged to, but she thought that the worst of the news was over. It wouldn't matter who it was she'd been engaged to, but she wanted Nathan to know all the same. It might help him realise why she'd been a bit reluctant to tell him earlier too, might help explain the position she'd been put in a little better.

Haley had felt absolutely devastated when Nathan had left to go into the office. Of course, she knew that the business was extremely important and given the way that his phone had rung repeatedly while she was trying to talk to him, she knew something serious must have happened. But the thought of him leaving was absolutely horrible, and she'd completely broken down in front of him, unable to wait until he'd left. However, after speaking to him on the phone, she felt rather pleased that they had managed to have a couple of hours away from each other. It seemed to have let the dust settle a little bit and have given both of them some much needed time to digest all that had happened, Nathan especially.

Eventually, she made it to the apartment building and pressed the button for the elevator, waiting patiently for it to arrive. She was feeling better and better by the second, Nathan's words resounding in her head each time a horrible thought entered in her mind. _"I could never leave you." _She had felt such relief when she'd heard him say those words before he had left, and each time she repeated them in her head, she felt the worries fade further and further away. They would be alright. They had to be. She loved him far too much to not do all that she had to do to make this relationship work.

The elevator chimed as it reached the ground floor and the doors opened with a swish. She stepped inside, placed the heavy shopping bags on the ground and pressed the button for the floor which housed their apartment. She'd bought two bottles of wine, and had even picked up some candles, candle stick holders and some flowers, eager to make tonight as romantic as she could. She'd planned an extravagant meal and couldn't wait for Nathan to get home so that they could just relax in each other's company and finally begin their life together with no secrets hidden in the closet, with nothing holding them back.

Once the elevator reached the correct floor, she picked up her shopping bags and carried them down the hall to the apartment. She felt the smile slowly creep across her face, the happiness that she was still sharing a home with Nathan after all that she had told him was too strong for her to deny herself acknowledging it for a second. She put the key in the door and stepped through, before dragging the shopping bags inside. Closing the door behind her, she then carried the bags through to the kitchen and began to unpack them. Placing the items she wouldn't need in the correct cupboards and the fridge, she then turned her attention to the meal she was planning to make. She grabbed the chopping board and began to cut up an onion, and then placed a frying pan on the stove, placing some butter in the pan.

She was humming to herself as she began to prepare some more ingredients, and then decided that she could do with a glass of wine right now for herself. Opening up the fridge, she pulled out one of the bottles of white she'd picked up at the store and grabbed herself a glass. Once she'd got the cork out, she poured herself a large glass, before placing the bottle back in the fridge to chill. She took a sip of the wine and glanced over at the clock on the wall, wanting to make sure she had her timings right as she wanted dinner to be ready for when Nathan said he'd be back. She still had an hour or so which would be more than enough time for her to get dinner cooked, lay the table and clean herself up a little bit.

She took another gulp of her wine and could feel herself beginning to relax, the wine working its wonders. She licked her lips and saw that the butter was now ready. She was just about to put her glass of wine down so that she could place the onions in the pan when she heard a noise coming from behind her. She paused what she was doing and listened again, wondering if her ears were just playing tricks with her. When she didn't hear anything other than the sizzle of the butter in the pan, she shrugged, telling herself that she was being incredibly stupid. Nathan wasn't due home for another hour and no one else would be here with her. She rolled her eyes at herself, sure that she had heard something though, but she shook the feeling off and was just about to put her glass of wine on the countertop when she heard a noise again coming from behind her.

"Hello, Haley."

Haley's grip on her glass of wine completely faltered and she watched as it fell to the ground, shattering and spilling wine and glass all over the tiled kitchen floor. She felt a shudder run through her entire body as the dread coursed its way rapidly through her veins. She'd recognise that voice anywhere, and the fact that he was here, in the apartment with her was incredibly concerning. Questions started to race through her mind, most of them revolving around how the hell he'd managed to get in and what the hell he wanted now that he was here. She couldn't bring herself to turn around and face Tom and so she continued to stare at the pan which contained nothing but melted butter.

And suddenly, as if her mind had completely shut down from all the thoughts which had been running through it regarding Tom, the only thought she could muster was the fact that the butter had started to burn and she'd have to throw it out and start again.

**AN – Uh oh. What the hell is Tom doing at the apartment?!**

**I'd love to know what you thought of the chapter so please drop me a review to let me know your thoughts!**

**A preview, as always will be available to those of you that want it, just let me know in a review if you do and I will get it out to you as soon as it is written.**

**Don't forget to check out mine and Rebecca's new story Butterflies and Hurricanes – we'll be posting the next chapter of that story on Monday 12****th**** April!**


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